A Tangled Web VI: Planet of the Borg Downunder
by ordinaryguy2
Summary: Max Headroom, Robocop, Gargoyles, Beauty and the Beast, Mad Max, against the Planet of the Apes...or soon to be Planet of the Borg!
1. Default Chapter

A Tangled Web VI: Planet Of The Borg Downunder By Charlie Nelson  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters written in this story. Rich corporations own all major and even some minor characters and I am just borrowing them for this narrative. Also, I am not making any money by writing this fictional work. I write this for the fun of it as well as to better my creative instinct and grammatical skills.  
  
Classification: Crossover I think I should explain that part of what I am trying to do with this story is to mix as many storylines together as possible and still make it interesting and true to the characters. The challenge to myself is to effectively blend some old sci-fi shows with some new sci-fi shows and maybe even a movie or two, but just those that I am familiar with. Another challenge I have is trying to get reviews from those that read my work. Please help and send reviews.  
  
HOLODECK ON DEEP SPACE NINE "If you will follow me," the doctor said. Since being activated on Voyager, the holographic physician had taken on many hats. Now to his contempt he had been reduced to tour guide. He could understand Captain Janeway's reasoning, however, as the tour group consisted of fifteen Klingons drunk on blood wine and battle lust. As a hologram, the Voyager doctor was the least susceptible to injury and thus the most likely to survive any drunken incident.  
  
The doctor had wanted to do an initial work up on Wade Welles, but she was currently busy downloading vast amount of data into the Starfleet computers and meeting with her friends. Dr. Crusher had said she would do a preliminary exam of Wade and inform him if she found anything unusual, but he knew Crusher's attention would be divided since she was also examining Bruce Banner and the effects of gamma radiation on his body.  
  
As the doctor and Klingon warriors entered the holodeck, it was currently running a twentieth century Earth program of a Las Vegas casino. People milled around laughing, talking, drinking and gambling. On a stage on the far side of room, two male singers sang 'Mack the Knife' to a number of tables seating men and women listening with rapt attention.  
  
"Computer, end program."  
  
The room and people vanished leaving in an eerie void a black room striped in yellow. The doctor was very familiar with how the holodeck worked being that he was fashioned using the same technology.  
  
"Hey, what do you think you are doing? Sammy and I were right in the middle of a song!" came a protest from across the room.  
  
The doctor looked over in surprise. One of the singers that had been on stage had not digitalized with all the others and did not appear to be very happy. "I'm sorry. I hadn't realized that anyone was using the holodeck. The computer didn't register any crewmembers using this room."  
  
"I always occupy this room," fumed the singer who was dressed in dark formal evening attire. "This is where I work! Guests are always welcome as long as they don't disrupt things."  
  
The doctor paused in thought. He looked back at the restless Klingons, three of whom were struggling to carry in a caldron of their intoxicating liquid through the holodeck door without spilling it all. Several of the other Klingons were trying to lighten the weight of the caldron by filling up their goblets and drinking even faster. The doctor shuddered and returned his attention back towards the singer. "Excuse me for asking, but are you a hologram?"  
  
"Yeah, but that's no reason for interrupting my own program!"  
  
"Fascinating!" the doctor said with exuberance. "I'm a hologram, too!"  
  
"So, that doesn't mean you can just come in here and just turn off-" The singer looked at the bald man in the blue and black Starfleet medical uniform for a second. "You're a hologram? And you just walked in here? From Quark's bar? How did you do that?"  
  
"I've been equipped with an holo-emitter," he answered showing the device on his left arm. "It's very practical, making it possible for me to go and experience things outside the confirms of the Sickbay or Holodeck. Which is a good thing considering my profession as a physician. It's often been necessary for me to go planet-side to-"  
  
"Hold up, doc. What's it take to get one of these emitter things? I've kinda had a hankering to see what's on the other side, so to speak"  
  
"Uh, this actually is the only one. It was obtained when I was captured by a twentieth century business man who was using technology obtained from the twenty-seventh century by-"  
  
"But other holograms such as myself can use it, right?"  
  
"Ah," the doctor said, feeling a little uneasy as he realized where this vocal performer was going with his question. "Potentially, yes, but-"  
  
"Then maybe we can work a trade, temporary that is," amended the singer upon seeing the other holographic person's concern. "You and your-" he glanced back at the Klingons briefly, "'-friends' can use my holodeck while I use your holo-emitter to check out Deep Space Nine for the next couple of hours."  
  
"I really don't know," the doctor said hesitantly.  
  
"This is my holodeck, you know," the singer said. "Sisko gave me permission to run my program 24/7 so if you need to use this room you need to deal with me."  
  
The doctor fidgeted. The Starfleet admirals had taken over the other holodeck along with a number of their personal technicians. He didn't dare arrive over there with fifteen punch-drunk Klingons who were already getting restless. He couldn't talk to Captain Sisko about the arrangement he had made with the holographic singer because he had retired to his room to rest. Captain Janeway had been given authority of all activity relating to the monitoring the Borg activities through the portals had created in Quark's Bar until the admirals or Captain Sisko returned.  
  
"Very well," the doctor said coldly. He carefully removed the emitter from his arm and attached it to that of the other holographic man. "Please remember to return in four hours or you may run out of power and find out you don't exist anymore."  
  
"Everything worth having has a steep price," said the singer. "By the way, I'm Vic. Vic Fontaine.  
  
The doctor shook Vic's hand automatically. "You have a name? Fascinating!"  
  
"Why shouldn't I have a name? Everyone else does?"  
  
"That's what I told Captain Janeway," the holographic doctor said. "She gave me permission to choose one for myself. I'm still searching for one that suits me though."  
  
"You can always just go by Doc." Seeing the glare the doctor gave him, Vic just shrugged. "It was fine for one of the seven dwarves. Doc Holiday, too. But, hey, I'm outta here!" He gave a quick wave at the Klingons who were milling around there caldron on Klingon blood wine and then stepped out of the holodeck.  
  
Before the doctor could do anything, the Klingons began demanding their entertainment. "Right," said the doctor. "Well, let's see." He looked at the device in his hand and no idea how it worked. At Captain Janeway's request, Q had come up with a means of entertaining the rowdy Klingons who were their allies and thus they didn't want to have to put them in the brig. But since the Klingons were caught up in watching the Borg attacks, Q adapted the holodecks to so that they could view the various Borg battles being fought in the invaded parallel worlds.  
  
"Computer, please configure someone to explain how to use this device."  
  
"Specifications?" asked the female sounding computer voice.  
  
Looking back at his group, he decided on, "Someone that wouldn't be fazed by a band of Klingons."  
  
The holodeck background quickly changed to that of a twentieth century modest living room. A man sitting on a sofa sat with his back to toward them. In front of him was a small television to which he seeing to be aimlessly clicking a small television remote at. He wore a long sleeved blue shirt that appeared wrinkled even from the back. His tie was half undone and hung loosely and forgotten around his neck. His pants were undone at the waist and his right hand sunk halfway in to separate the annoying waistband from where it had rubbed tight against his flesh all day.  
  
"Pardon me," said the doctor.  
  
The man looked back lazily, his eyes half glazed, at the doctor and the group of fierce-looking Klingons in his living room.  
  
"Peg! More of your relatives have shown up unannounced!" the man on the couch shouted to someone they couldn't see.  
  
The doctor shook his head, not understanding what the man had just said. "Uh, could you tell me your name," he asked coming around the couch.  
  
"Al Bundy. Shoe salesman extraordinaire." Al motioned for the doctor to sit down.  
  
The doctor was surprised at the manner of this man. He didn't ask question why they were there or even pull his hand from his waistband. He considered asking the computer to find another subject but the Klingons were already tightly gripping their d'k tahg daggers in a manner that made him believe that they may actually have come up with a way to inflict harm on him.  
  
"Yes, well, we were wondering if you could show us how to use this." He handed over the device the Q had created over to the uncouth shoe salesman.  
  
"Great goobly gook! Now this is a Universal Remote!" He pressed a button and his small television expanded to take up one side of the living room. "Now that's a powerful remote," Al laughed. "Now let's see what's on! Right, fellas?"  
  
The Klingons lifted their flagons and let out a roar of agreement. The doctor soon found himself squished on the sofa with a Klingon on one side and Al on the other. The shoe salesman leaned back, then reached behind him to pull out a plastic bag from between the cushions. "Anyone care for some pork rinds?" he offered, taking a bit for himself.  
  
The Klingon on the other side of the doctor reached obtrusively past him, snagging the bag before any of the other Klingons could. He looked at it carefully, sniffing cautiously, before jamming a handful of pork rinds in his mouth. The others watched, more hesitant about Earth food. "Delicious," the first Klingon said in Klingon. The bag was quickly snatched from him by three different hands, effectively causing the cheap plastic bag to shred, sending a shower of pork rinds everywhere, including a much disgruntled holographic doctor.  
  
Al chuckled. "Don't you just love a night with just the guys?" he rhetorically said to the doctor. "No women. No Children. Just men behaving like they should."  
  
Most of the Klingons, except for an officer, were picking pork rinds off the couch and a very offended doctor to eat.  
  
"They have no manners at all!" remarked the doctor in disdain.  
  
"Exactly," Al said, turning to the show on the extra-large television set.  
  
"Benson! Benson!" a woman shrieked with a thick German accent as she entered a plush, spacious office of the governor's mansion.  
  
"Over here, Kraus," came an answer. A forty-year-old Black man looked up from where he had been hiding behind his desk.  
  
"Benson! The National Guard are not stopping them! They keep coming!"  
  
"What do you want me to do about it?" Benson asked.  
  
"We have to get the governor out of here!" she insisted.  
  
"I'm all for it. I have him here behind the desk." He looked down accusingly. "If I can just get Clayton off my legs, then I think that we can get the governor out of here,  
  
Clayton Endicott III looked up over the desk. "Is it over? Is it safe?"  
  
"What's the matter with him?" Gretchen Kraus asked as she came around the desk to check on the governor herself.  
  
"Clayton's just scared," Pete Downey said, popping up behind the desk, too.  
  
"No, you idiots! The governor! What's wrong with him!"  
  
Benson DuBois helped the German woman pull the limp body of Governor Gatling off the floor. "Far as I can tell, he's just been stunned. That energy beam that hit him seemed to have just rendered him unconscious. But how or why I have no idea."  
  
"It's Communists!" Clayton said in a terrified tone.  
  
"It's not Communists!" chided Kraus, shaking her head at the spineless man.  
  
"It's aliens, then! We're being invaded from Outer Space!" Downey proclaimed.  
  
"It's Communist aliens!" amended Endicott, not to be outdone, even in a panic.  
  
"Get a hold of yourself, man!" Benson said to Endicott. "You were the one that said we should make a stand and show support by staying in the Governor's Mansion even while those attackers were close by."  
  
"Now you listen to me?" Clayton said, in disbelief. "Fine. Now I'm saying we should get far away from here and let the National Guard and whatever other military branches that come to help do whatever they can to stop these things."  
  
"Kraus," Benson said, ignoring Clayton. "Help me with the governor up."  
  
Gretchen, being of a sturdy build, was the best choice in helping Benson move the governor, and she had no qualms about doing so. "Benson, you're the Lt. Governor. What should we-"  
  
"Political comedies," Al said, shaking his head dismissively. "They'll never catch on." He casually changed the channel.  
  
Click.  
  
"Look out, Scooby!" Shaggy yelled.  
  
The large brown dog backed away from the drone while pulling Daphne with him down the street. The dog growled defiantly, and whilst he lacked the courage to attack the drone, he was not willing to leave one of his Human companions to the strange man/machine creature approaching them.  
  
A movement overhead caused the Great Dane to look up. Suddenly, Scooby found himself grabbed and hurtling through the air supported solely by a strong arm around his waist.  
  
Before he could get his bearing upon landing, his friend Shaggy was all over him. "Man, Scooby, you were like a hero trying to save Daphne like that."  
  
"Speaking of heroes," Velma said. "That was a nice save, Boy Wonder."  
  
"It just Robin now, if you don't mind," replied the young superhero who had swung down and carried Scooby to safety. "I've kind of outgrown the whole 'Boy Wonder' thing." Robin's attentions were divided. He watched the cybernetic people march down the nearly empty cobblestone streets of the small French villa, but he was also very much intrigued by what Batman was doing. The Dark Knight had pulled the Daphne to safety, just as Robin had rescued Scooby, but somehow Daphne was not well. Grayish spiderwebs spread under her skin causing Robin to feel great alarm. "Holy skin problems! Batman, what's happening to her?"  
  
The Batman had out a powerful handheld magnifying glass and was studying Daphne's right arm where the spreading gray veins were most intense. "Something has been introduced to her bloodstream. And it appears to be metallic in origin." He looked up to regard them all. "I'll have to study her further elsewhere. I can't be conclusive here."  
  
"Batman," Velma interrupted. "Just before this all happened, Black Vulcan was trying to rescue Freddy from those cyborg people. They shot Black Vulcan with one of those beams from the weapon they wear on their arms and he seemed to dissipate."  
  
Batman nodded. "Most likely his energy form was dispersed. It will take him hours to reform."  
  
"Rey, Rhaggy, rook," Scooby said, pointing with a paw.  
  
"Zoinks! It's the swamp man that we came looking for!"  
  
"Holy Moley!" Robin shouted. "That's not just any swamp man! That's Solomon Grundy!"  
  
"And that means that the rest of the Legion of Doom must be nearby," concluded the Darknight Detective.  
  
"But look," Velma said. "Grundy has the same mechanical pieces on his body that the other people have, too."  
  
"And look behind Grundy," Robin said. "There's Black Manta, the Toyman, and the Riddler! They've all been transformed!"  
  
Flying over a small house, a skinny, dark-red skinned man with pointed ears, in a tight black uniform aimed a yellow ring at the oncoming drones and fired. A yellow beam flew from the ring and struck the drones harmlessly as their force shields around their body appeared and protected them.  
  
"They've already adapted!" shouted a large talking ape that had climbed on top of the small house. "Sinestro, use your ring on the ground underneath them!" The ape then tore off most of a brick chimney and threw it down on the marching drones as a means of distraction. The chimney was instantly vaporized, however, and no drones were harmed.  
  
The rouge Green Lantern didn't acknowledge that he had heard the talking ape, but did use his power ring to scoop up the ground under the transformed Grundy and tossed him high up into the air towards the river.  
  
"Sinestro and Gorilla Grodd fighting against their teammates?" Batman mused. "Something must have gone wrong in their plans. Why am I not surprised?"  
  
"Batman, what are you going to do?" Velma asked.  
  
"Keep the people clear, first. We need reinforcements before charging in there. Not only would we have to face those cyborgs, but most likely the Legion of Doom, too." Silently he ran through the list of Super Friends that he could call. Superman and Green Lantern were in deep space returning the Wonder Twins to their home; Wonder Woman was dealing with an attack by Queen Clea on Paradise Island; the Flash was returning his foe, Abra Kadabra, back to the 64th century; and Aquaman was being coronated as king of Atlantis. Hawkman, Hawkwoman, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Samurai and Apache Chief were already in route to help, but he could sure use some help right now. And considering what they were up against he'd like for there to be some more powerful members to help him. Perhaps, the Super Friends needed to recruit some more members. That new hothead hero, Firestorm might be a good candidate, he thought.  
  
"Ratman! Rook! A row rying rane!"  
  
"What's Scooby on about?" asked Robin.  
  
"There!" Shaggy shouted. "A low flying plane!"  
  
"I recognize it," Batman said with a smile.  
  
"I do, too," Velma said. "It's the Blue Falcon and Dynomutt!"  
  
"You know," Al remarked. "I hate all the Hollywood moviemakers taking old cartoon shows and turning them into movies. Can't they come up with anything original anymore?"  
  
The doctor just shrugged, not being able to reference what Al was referring to. He did notice that the Klingons were captivated by what they were watching.  
  
Al raised the universal remote and changed the channel yet again.  
  
Click.  
  
"No! No! No!" shrieked the mad scientist. "All my plans! Ruined!"  
  
If anyone in the chaos around him heard, they gave no sign of it. Count Dracula was in one corner fighting for his unlife against the werewolf that Larry Talbot had once again turned into. The count pulled his mauled arm away from the Immortal werewolf and hissed his anger. "You hairy fiend! I'll tear you to pieces for that!"  
  
Unbeknownst to the rabid wolf man, as he was blocking the various scientific devices of the time that the notorious count was throwing at him, the large metal door to the mad scientist's laboratory had been opened, giving access to several drones, one of which had obviously been Dr. Frankenstein's monster, now upgraded in ways the long dead doctor had never imagined.  
  
Two drones stopped near the doorway to analyze the various equipment nearby while the others continued further into the room. One drone picked up an old journal that had belonged to Dr. Victor Von Frankenstein, somehow sensing it's worth to the Collective, he began scanning through the pages.  
  
"No!" screeched the lab-coat wearing doctor. "I struggled hard to get that journal! You shall not steal it from me now!" The scientist threw several beakers of fluids at the drone, causing both the drone and the book to smolder.  
  
The companion to the drone turned and bathed the acid covered drone and book in a bright white light which effectively neutralizing the acidic components. The first drone was badly scarred on its exposed flesh but its metallic parts just seemed to shine a little more than the others. The infamous journal of Dr. Frankenstein, however, was ruined.  
  
"Ha! Ha! Ha! Now I alone know the secrets of Frankenstein!" mocked the mad scientist. "And once I replace my laboratory, I shall build my own creatures! And with them, I shall complete my destiny and rule the world!"  
  
Two tubules impaled the scientist in his abdomen, sending nano-probes throughout the scientist's body and effectively silencing the raving scientist.  
  
The wolf man turned from attacking the vampire when a stray shot from one of the drones nicked him. Growling, the werewolf took in his attackers. The cursed creature's senses hated the unnatural smell caused by the mixture of man and alien technology. He clawed the air in warning, the broken manacles on his wrists jingling.  
  
Frankenstein's creature raised his arm toward the werewolf. The wolf man took this as a sign of attack, and lunged at the composite creature. The monster-drone grabbed the werewolf by the throat and kept the flailing creature at arms length while other drones came forward with tubules extended.  
  
Count Dracula, freed from his bout with the ferocious werewolf, decided that it would be better to flee and come back later when he had the advantage. Drawing into himself, the count used his vampiric powers to shrink himself down to the size and shape of a bat. Taking wing, the vampire bat made for a nearby window. Just before escaping into the night sky, the bat was stunned by three separate beams of light, and thus the smoking bat fell hard on the stone floor at the feet of a drone.  
  
"Those old Transylvanian horror flicks. Classic. But it looks like we've got to this show right before the credits roll." He bit into a pork rind that had fallen onto his lap. "Well guys, how about we see what else is on?"  
  
The Klingons roared their approval, causing the doctor to hold his hands over his ears at the sudden onslaught of sound. Al just laughed and raised the remote.  
  
Click.  
  
*****  
  
QUARK'S BAR ON DEEP SPACE NINE Kenny scowled at the Ferengi bartender even as he backed away. It had taken the young appearing thousand-year-old Immortal ten minutes of arguing before Quark would give him anything other than a minor's drink.  
  
Sitting down at his table, he sipped cautiously at the drink, making sure not to flinch at its odd flavor.  
  
"So what do you think of synthehol?" Jake asked.  
  
Kenny's face grimaced. "Something's wrong with it. There's something not right in the taste."  
  
Jake Sisko nodded. "Everybody says that. It's designed to allow a person to have the intoxicating effects of real alcohol drinks but without hangovers or getting sick."  
  
"Sounds good in theory," Kenny said, eyeing the glass in his hand distrustfully. "But I bet it wouldn't have gone too far during the Prohibition Era."  
  
"That was in the early 1900's, right?"  
  
"Sure was," Kenny replied. Glancing up, he studied the six blank glowing panels. It was hard for the small Immortal to fathom that everyone here had been able to watch everything that had happened at the Rosemont Convention Center. And even then, Quark still hadn't wanted to give him a drink.  
  
"What's that one over there?"  
  
"Ah, that's Mr. Mott. He's a Bolian. I believe he's the barber on the Enterprise." Jake looked at his data-padd, considering what he should ask. It wasn't often that he got to interview someone with a thousand years worth of history. "What would you say was your favorite time period?"  
  
"The 1960's and 70's. Traveling with hippies. They were generally more friendly and generous than most people. They also didn't care if I came or went so I could pretty much do what I wanted. What's that one over there? The golden skinned one talking to the Doctor."  
  
"That's Commander Data. He doesn't belong to any race. He's an android." Before Jake could from his next question, he was interrupted by a feminine voice.  
  
"Jake? Jake, what are you doing here?" The familiar spotted figure of Ezri Dax sat down at Jake and Kenny's table. "I thought your father made you leave the station back at Bajor."  
  
A pained look crossed the young man's face. "Ezri, don't tell him I'm here. I'm a reporter and I have a chance to get some real good stories here. My dad doesn't understand-"  
  
"Your father is the captain of this space station, Jake. You two may not-"  
  
"Whoa! Whoa! Back up the train there," Kenny said, jumping to his feet. "Did you just way that we are on a space station, like as in outer freakin' space!"  
  
"You thought we were planet-side?" Jake said.  
  
"The Doctor said we were going into the future and that there would be aliens but he didn't say anything about going on a freakin' space station! Where's a window! I gotta look out a window!"  
  
"Um, well, you can get a good look of Earth from out on the Promenade," Jake said.  
  
Kenny was running out of the bar, bumping only into a few late-night patrons on his way, including the Doctor, who decided to end his conversation with Data and see what his new companion was so excited about. Another of the bumped victims turned to Jake and Ezri to ask what that was all about, but instead smiled and came over upon seeing two familiar faces. "If it isn't the ever endeavoring young Sisko and the very beautiful Ezri, isn't it a beautiful night for a walk?"  
  
"Vic?" Ezri exclaimed in disbelief.  
  
"How are you able to be out of the holodeck?" Jake asked.  
  
Vic Fontaine chuckled. "Met a fellow hologram from Voyager who lent me this little number." He tapped the emitter on his arm lightly. "So I'm using it to stretch my legs."  
  
"Good for you," Ezri said.  
  
"What I want to know is where is everybody," Vic said. "I mean it's not everyday that I'm out and about."  
  
Jake glanced around. Even Morn was gone from his stool at the bar. "It's late for us, Vic. Most everyone has gone to bed. Even my dad. Captain Janeway is currently in charge in dealing with the Q."  
  
"What's the Q?" Vic asked.  
  
Across the room, two men turned away from the debate they were having with a very frustrated Captain Janeway.  
  
"Now Q,-" began one of the men.  
  
"No, Q. This demands our attention." Both men were wearing Starfleet admiral dress uniforms with every decorative medal that Starfleet handed out. The second man led the way over to where Vic and the others were still talking.  
  
"Q, what is he doing?" Janeway asked.  
  
"I'm afraid we are going to find out, Kathryn."  
  
"You need an introduction to the Q," spoke Q2.  
  
Janeway stepped between Q2 and the small group. Other small groups of people staying up late quickly scattered to the corners in any attempt not to gain the attention of the two Qs. "Q2, let's just go back to our table and go over the list of potential candidates."  
  
Q2 shook his finger at Janeway. "No need when we have such potential candidates here. Why the young man right there looks like he'd do very well to adjusting to a new universe," he said, putting a hand on Jake's shoulder.  
  
Janeway shot Q a look, causing him to squirm. Then he realized just who's son Jake was. Realizing he had to do something, Q turned to face his fellow Q. "What are you trying to do to me? This boy is too scrawny to go against the Borg. You need someone more fierce, like a Klingon."  
  
"Fine, I'll have a Klingon for my second choice," Q2 responded, snapping his fingers in dramatic flare.  
  
In a flash, a bed appeared in one side of bar. Occupying that bed was a male and female in various form of undress, passionately kissing each other. It was the woman that suddenly realized that they were no longer where they once were. "Worf!"  
  
The Klingon glanced up, and immediately sized up the situation. "Q!" he roared. Jumping off the bed with only his pants on, Worf leaped at the two Qs only to be frozen still in the air.  
  
"My, he does appear formidable, doesn't he? Very alpha-maleish." Q2 remarked. The unmoving, muscular form of Worf stared daggers and growled at the roguish Q as the self-proclaimed omnipotent being slowly walked around him as if he were a statue to be studied. "Still, I think I prefer to choose his bedmate. Yes, I choose the Human/Betazoid hybrid empath."  
  
Deanna stopped pulling blankets up to cover her as she realize just what she had been chosen for. "I accept."  
  
"Do you?" quipped Q2. "How very good for you since you have no choice in the matter."  
  
"Pardon me," interrupted Data. "But I have noticed that most Humans are more comfortable when fully clothed when they are indoors with more than one persons present." He then put down a neatly folded pile of cloths down that had been made for the councilor at a nearby replicator.  
  
Q contemplated his colleague's tactics, trying to outguess the other Q's motives. "So, you've chosen Troi for your Enterprise selection and Worf or the boy, Jake, for Deep Space Nine." Each Q had settled on selecting one member from the Enterprise, Deep Space Nine and Voyager to stop the Borg in a selected universe, then when the Borg had been stopped – through destruction, deprogramming or just contained – they would select another group to save another universe. As far as the selections went, Q2 had already reasoned that it meant that the people eligible to be selected just had to have an affiliation with Voyager, Enterprise or Deep Space Nine. Also anyone on either of the vessels or space station during this time was also a candidate to fight against the Borg.  
  
"I think I'll stick with Miss Troi and the young Mr. Sisko," Q2 said with a smile.  
  
Jake sat still in his chair, scared but knowing enough not to do anything that might cause the powerful being to just wipe him out of existence.  
  
Deanna looked with forlorn eyes at Worf, feeling his anger, frustration and very well directed hate towards the two Qs. She also felt his fear towards what might happen to her.  
  
"Mmmrgh!" Worf managed to growl out from his frozen lips.  
  
"I do think that he wants your attention," Q2 said in a pseudo-helpful manner.  
  
Q walked sharply over to the front of the half naked Klingon hanging in mid- leap. "I can't change Q2's mind about Deanna, crab-head," Q spoke. "So stop distracting us while I try figure out how to make the best of this."  
  
"Mrrphh mmsrhh mmmrrr!" Worf shouted through his still lips.  
  
Q threw up his hands. "Fine. Fine. I pick Worf as my next choice." Worf unfroze and fell hard to the floor. He rolled and jumped to his feet instantly, prepared to pounce again if he thought for an instant that he could.  
  
Deanna, fully dressed now, grabbed Worf's arm and tried pulling his resisting form to the door, but he just stood there glaring at the two Qs. "Worf, please. Don't make it worse," she pleaded. "Help me to get the things we want to bring with us. We want to be prepared." Reluctantly, Worf allowed her to pull him one step, and then another, toward the exit to the Promenade.  
  
After they had gone, Q2 glanced around at all the still faces in the room. "Now that was dramatic."  
  
"Dramatic?" responded Vic. "That was just sadistic the way you played with their emotions! Who is this bozo?" he asked those around him. Even Data, who had experimentally turned on his emotion chip, could not manage to say anything.  
  
"Bozo? Bozo? Perhaps I should select you so that you can gain a greater appreciation for the Q and all that we do for the good of the universe!"  
  
"Good of the universe?" scoffed Vic. "Seriously, who is this bozo?"  
  
Q snorted in laughter, but Q2 was not at all amused. "Very well, you shall be one of those I select to go to the next place selected and go against the Borg."  
  
"I get to go on a trip?" Vic smiled. "I'd love to." Data leaned up next to the holographic singer and quietly began to explain a few things to him, such as who the Q and Borg were and what the mission was all about.  
  
Q smiled as he held up a hand for Q2 to pause. "Well, since Vic comes from Deep Space Nine, then you will have to relinquish Jake as your representative."  
  
"Nonsense. This one," he said, waving dismissively towards Vic, "is my Voyager selection."  
  
"But he's not from Voyager," Captain Janeway said, finding her voice again. She was willing to try help Q out as he was trying to get Jake of the hook.  
  
"But the holo-emitter that he is wearing is from Voyager. The programmable person running on it is just happenstance."  
  
"Then I choose the Voyager's holographic doctor," Q said.  
  
The doctor suddenly appeared next to the bed that Worf and Deanna had materialized on. "State the nature of the medical-" He paused and looked around. "Wait a minute. I was just babysitting a pack of Klingons watching a team of shape changing, self-willed robots that called themselves Autobots or Decepticons go against the Borg and a group called G.I. Joe that had been turned into drones and now I'm here." He looked intently to Captain Janeway, "Did those Klingons damage my programming or has something else happened?" It was then that he spotted Vic who was still wearing the doctor's portable holo-emitter. "What a minute! There are no holo-emitters in the walls of Quark's bar! How am I able to exist?"  
  
"Because I simply will it," Q answered in a tone that silenced the doctor. Now he addressed Q2, "And since this Starfleet medical program is my selection from Voyager and he has first dibs on the emitter-" he said, casually pointing to the device Vic had on his arm. "-you shall just have to make another choice."  
  
Q2 shook his head. "Here," he said, handing over something that flashed into existence in his hand. It was an exact duplicate of the device Vic now wore. The doctor took it and quickly put it in place on his arm, feeling more comfortable with it there and trusting in it to keep him corporeal rather than the whim of a Q, as ironic as that was.  
  
"And now we both have one," Vic said, slapping the doctor's shoulder.  
  
"When we get back we are switching emitters at the earliest opportunity," the doctor said. "I prefer to have the original."  
  
"It seems we both have made our selections for Voyager," Q2 said. "I believe you still have one more choice to make. And since Worf could count for either an Enterprise or Deep Space Nine entry you still have a very wide selection."  
  
"It's not that easy," complained Q. "It's not like just picking the next person to walk through the entrance of Quark's bar."  
  
"But it can be," Q2 said, sitting down and staring at the doorway, finalizing Q's choice.  
  
Janeway's words of protest fell on deaf ears, and then were pointless when someone stepped into the bar.  
  
He stopped in the doorway, somewhat startled at all the attention directed his way. "Ah, I was just asked to-. That is, I'm supposed to see how everything is going down here." He swallowed a lump in his throat. "Everything is all right, right?" he asked nervously. "Why is everybody looking at me and shaking their heads?"  
  
*****  
  
Author's Notes: Hello, and welcome to another of my crossover stories. I know I'm mentioning a lot of crossovers when covering the holodeck in the first chapter but I am not having nearly as many crossovers as my last story. That was just too many crossovers even for me though I loved doing it.  
  
With my new crossover, the Borg will be invading Australia. I could use Croc Hunter and Crocodile Dundee I suppose if I get enough reviews asking for them. As for what I have in mind all together you will have to wait till my next posting to check out, but you will like it. I had thought to wait on posting until I had written the next groups selected and the arrival but that would take a while and this way you get to start reading the story sooner.  
  
MARRIED ... WITH CHILDREN (1987 - 1997)  
  
Al Bundy – (Ed O'Neill) Peggy Bundy – (Katey Sagal) – mentioned only  
  
My use of Al Bundy as a television guide to viewing the other parallel worlds being attacked by the Borg was an idea that surprised even me. I chose him because of all the TV characters out there, he's the only one that immediately comes to mind as to spending time watching television. I suppose I could have used Homer Simpson but that would have been pushing things even for me.  
  
BENSON – (1979-1986) Lt. Gov. Benson DuBois – (Robert Guillaume) Gov. Eugene Xavier Gatling – (James Noble) Gretchen Wilomena Kraus – (Inga Swenson) Clayton Runnymede Endicott III – (Rene Auberjonois) Peter 'Pete' John Downey – (Ethan Phillips)  
  
As for the other universes glanced at in the holodeck, 'BENSON' was chosen because of one thing. Two actually. Rene Auberjonois plays the bumbling, self-important Clayton Runnymede Endicott III, but you may 'or may not' recognize him as Deep Space Nine favorite security chief, Odo. As for Ethan Phillips who played Peter Downey, he also is a little hard to recognize under all the makeup and everything that it takes to create the figure we all know as Neelix.  
  
SCOOBY-DOO, WHERE ARE YOU? (1969 – 1972) THE NEW SCOOBY-DOO MOVIES (1972 – 1973) THE SCOOBY-DOO/DYNOMUTT HOUR (1976 – 1977) SCOOBY AND SCRAPPY DOO (1979 – 1983) THE NEW SCOOBY-DOO MYSTERIES (1984 – 1985) THE 13 GHOSTS OF SCOOBY-DOO (1985 – 1986) A PUP NAMED SCOOBY-DOO (1988 – 1991) WHAT'S NEW, SCOOBY-DOO? (2002 – PRESENT)  
  
SUPERFRIENDS (1973 – 1977) CHALLENGE OF THE SUPERFRIENDS (1978) SUPERFRIENDS: THE LEGENDARY SUPER POWERS SHOW (1984) Scooby-Doo meets Batman and Robin was a classic cartoon from my childhood. It was also one of the most famous crossover cartoons. I just took it a step farther here. Batman and Robin had belonged to the Super Friends like forever, thus I wanted to show Robin aging out of the Boy Wonder scene. Also, for a while the Super Friends were always going up against the Legion of Doom that was a collection of their worst foes that the heroes normal faced as individuals. The co-leaders of the Legion of Doom were Lex Luthor and Brainiac, which I thought added a nice crossover twist to my last story. As for the Blue Falcon and Dyno-Mutt, I believe Hanna-Barbera was trying to make a Batman and Robin version of Scooby and Shaggy to sell for the cartoon Saturday morning lineup. Actually the Blue Falcon probably is more like Fred but you understand what I mean. Of course, there is the whole Buffy/Daphne similarity now with the Scooby-Doo movies.  
  
Various Monster Movies of the 1930's and 1940's  
  
I've chosen these Transylvanian creatures of the night because they have done a lot of crossovers themselves, including various actors playing different roles. Bela Lugosi made the ever-famous DRACULA movie in 1931. In that same year, Boris Karloff played FRANKENSTEIN. In SON OF FRANKENSTEIN, Karloff was still playing the monster was now working with him as the mad scientist's assistant was Bela Lugosi in this 1939 movie. In 1941, Lon Chaney Jr. played Lawrence 'Larry' Talbot who was bitten and became THE WOLF MAN.  
  
In 1942, THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN, Lon Chaney is back but this time as the Frankenstein monster. Bela Lugosi returned as well as the hunchbacked assistant Ygor.  
  
It was in 1943 that we have our first real monster crossover when FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN. But in this movie we also have another crossover twist as Bela Lugosi plays the part of Frankenstein's monster and Lon Chaney Jr. returns to the role of the cursed werewolf. Strangely enough, it was also in this year that Lon Chaney Jr. also played the part of Count Alucard (spell the name backwards) in SON OF DRACULA.  
  
As if there weren't enough monsters bumping into each other, in 1944, HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN showed the wolf man going up against Dracula and the Frankenstein monster. Lon Chaney Jr. returned to play his role as the forever cursed Lawrence Talbot while the part of the monster by Glenn Strange and Dracula was played by John Carradine (John was the father of David Carradine of the Kung Fu television series).  
  
Chaney, Carradine and Strange returned to their roles in 1945 in HOUSE OF DRACULA to do more monster battling. In 1948, Lon Chaney Jr. returned as the Wolf Man, only this time to try stop Dracula(Bela Lugosi) from putting the simple controllable brain of Lou Costello in the body of the Frankenstein monster(Glenn Strange) in this monster spoof ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN.  
  
In other monster movies, Lon Chaney Jr. played Kharis, the mummy in THE MUMMY'S TOMB in 1942. He returned to the role in 1944 with John Carradine playing the Egyptian high priest Yousef Bey in THE MUMMY'S GHOST. Chaney plays the role of the mummy one final time in 1944 in THE MUMMY'S CURSE.  
  
TRANSFORMERS (1984 – 1987)  
  
G.I. JOE (1983 – 1986) Both shows were from the Saturday morning lineup of the 80's. Many of the people who did the voices for the shows did them for both and many, many more. Leonard Nimoy even did one of the voices in the Transformers movie. 


	2. chapter two: new recruits

The news reporter motioned to his cameraman to follow him even as he himself closely followed the police as they rushed through the hole in the side of the old warehouse. "The fighting inside seems to have stopped," he said to his viewers. "And the other officers are rushing in to aid in the capture."  
  
Edison wished he dared to proceed closer to the building but this was not his city, and while the police here appeared to be more friendlier to him than he was used to, he didn't want to jinx his working relationship with them by crowding them at a crucial moment. Mentally, he wished the dust in the air of the opening would clear so that Reg could have a better shot with the camera but experience told him otherwise. He waited with patience that only a reporter waiting for a story could have. He knew that Murray and Theora would edit out the more uneventful bits of the newscast, but Edison still wanted to get the best possible story he could for his viewers.  
  
Looking back he could see some of the local reporters setting up about thirty feet away but didn't dare come closer. Edison suppressed a smile; he knew that the other reporters didn't have the special clearance that he had gotten when he came to Delta City. In addition to the clearance, he knew that he had a reputation to being fair and objective, which was a rarity in any day and age. In the late twentieth century news reporters gave the news a highly liberal focus, but in this day and age corporations ruled everything including the news media. It was Edison's view that while the police of Delta City didn't usually like reporters, even they had heard of his no nonsense story reporting.  
  
The world had gotten harder in the last couple of decades. Money and entertainment had grown to mean everything while morals and caring for your fellow man was on the decline. Wars had broken out like they always do and civil unrest grew. Corporations were allowed to govern cities to such an extent that a number of people fled to the countryside or areas of the cities that corporate-paid police wouldn't go. These unregistered people were not listed in the company computer banks and thus were given the title of Blanks like Edison's cameraman, Blank Reg. Other problems such as the illegal use of bodygrabbers kidnapping people to sell as spare parts to organ banks began to rise causing old problems such as drugs, prostitution and murder seem mild in comparison. The apathy of his viewers was Edison's biggest problem. He felt that if he could just find a way to make his viewers care again then, and only then, will he have accomplished his goal.  
  
A movement in the hole in the wall alerted him that someone was coming out. Seeing who it was Edison hurried forward while still talking for the camera. "This is Edison Carter of Network 23 talking to you live from our sister city of Old Detroit. I am here with Detroit's most famous shining knight, Robocop, who has just rescued our city's own electronic resident, Max Headroom."  
  
The cyborg police officer walked through the rubble of the wall easily kicking aside the larger obstructive builders. His moves were stiff and precise; servos sounding out quietly at every movement. Armor plates covered the officer's entire body except his head, which wore a helmet and visor for protection. In his hands he carried a television set. On that set was the digital image of a man from the shoulders up. And although the graphic makeup of the man was augmented it was easy enough to see that it was the face of Edison Carter of the screen.  
  
A couple of years prior when Edison had been on a case investigating blipverts, compressed commercials which highly influenced their viewers. After obtaining the evidence he needed to prove that blipverts were actually lethal to some audience members, Edison hit his head while fleeing from corporate goons. A young genius working for the corporation managed to download a copy of Edison's unconscious brain so that they could effectively see if Edison had informed anyone else of his findings. What they got was Max Headroom, a self-important, yet likeable artificial intelligence program based on Edison Carter's brain. The Headroom program, while liking his popularity with the viewers of Channel 23, proved to be uncooperative at times, and displayed a childlike manner. Edison was the only one with any real control over the A.I. and took to looking after him like a younger brother.  
  
"Wa-Wa-Watch it, Robo," spoke the figure on the television screen with a slight flicker that almost made it sound like he was stuttering. "We don't- don't don't want to damage the merchandize-ize."  
  
The cyborg cop cleared a cement bench of a few stray pieces of rubble and then carefully set down the television set. Blank Reg carefully recorded the event as Edison instructed, while Edison stepped into the side view. "Robocop, how does it feel to have just rescued another artificial intelligence like yourself?"  
  
Robocop slowly turned to look at the reporter, then to the camera. And said nothing, much to Edison's perplexion.  
  
Before Edison could think of another question, three police officers came out of the building forcing a large man with grotesque features. The man's nose looked like an overlarge turnip, and the rest of his face was also unusually deformed.  
  
"Here we have officers arresting William Ray 'Pudface' Morgan who we believe Delta City's Robocop captured just moments prior."  
  
"That's him, officer!" Max cried out. "That the fiend-iend-iend that kidnapped me!" Pudface stirred, shaking his head as the police officers tried to get him in position to place cuffs on him.  
  
"Can you tell us why he kidnapped you, Max?" Edison asked, trying get some information.  
  
"He said something-ing about wanting me-e to interface with-with-with brain neurons."  
  
Robocop took three quick steps close to the set of Max Headroom, then bent down to look at him visor to screen. "What did he say exactly?"  
  
"Ulp!" Max looked nervous, but answered. "He said-aid that he wanted-ed to use me to pick someone's-s-s NeuroBrain."  
  
Robocop stood up straight. The NeuroBrain was the key part of Delta City's computer system. The NeuroBrain was what allowed Delta City to function and regulated everything from water and power, to information. The NeuroBrain was also called Diana Powers, a sharp secretary who had learned too much and was used in a very illegal and immoral experiment which turned out to work all to well as she now lived secretly as a ghost in the machine that ran all of Delta City. To control her would be to control the city. She was also one of Robocop's few friends, and one of the few that knew that he was Alex Murphy. And that he remembered his life as a husband, father and police officer before he had died and had his body transformed into a cyborg police officer.  
  
"What exactly is a Neuro-"  
  
"That is classified," Robocop said, cutting off Edison before he could ask any more questions.  
  
A primal yell caused all their heads to turn. Pudface had regain his wits and wasn't happy about his situation or that Robocop had broken his nose yet again. He elbowed one rookie in the Adam's apple, then kicked the next in the groin while pulling the first cop's gun from his holster. He grabbed the third cop close to him and shoved the gun to his temple. "Alright, let's try this again! I'm getting out of here or this officer's brains is gonna be all over the floor! Don't try anything, tin man!" he warned the cyborg policeman. He then used his other arm to toss a grenade near the opening in the warehouse wall. The resulting explosion caused more rubble to fall and block the officers inside the building.  
  
As Pudface began backing away with the third police officer as a shield, a grinding noise began to fill the area. Pudface looked around but didn't see anything and continued moving back toward a nearby vehicle. "I don't know what you think you are trying but you had better stop or-"  
  
Pudface backed into something. Something that he knew had not been there a moment before. A quick glance revealed that somehow he had backed into a reddish antique British telephone booth. But how it had gotten there was beyond him.  
  
The door opened and Pudface and the officer tensed. Out stepped a young boy and a woman. Seeing opportunity, Pudface shoved the office into the woman and grabbed the young lad to himself. The lad, seemed about twelve or thirteen, put up a better struggle than Pudface had expected at first and received the kicks and bites he deserved for being so careless. Putting the gun to the young boy's head, he stilled, looking defiantly.  
  
"Leela? Kenny?" A frilly-haired man with a fedora on his head peeked out of the telephone booth. At first sight he saw Kenny being held against his will by what appeared to be a mutant. And off to his right Leela appeared to have just knocked out a police officer. "What's going on here?"  
  
Pudface could feel Robocop aiming his weapon so he tightened his grip on the boy. "Inside!" he snarled. Without giving anyone time to argue or even act on his statement, the notorious criminal pushed the man inside following with the boy under his arm hoping that the confining space of the booth would keep Robocop from shooting.  
  
The young woman named Leela pulled out a knife with a snarl and leaped after Pudface. Robocop, seeing the murderous intent on the woman's face realized that he would have no time to negotiate if she had her way. Walking forward as fast as he could he reached the phone booth that he had watched appear in thin air. Without hesitation, he walked into the booth that should have not been able to fit him, let alone the two men, one woman and a young boy.  
  
"You don't see something like that every day-day-day," Max said.  
  
"You're right on that, Max," said Edison. He reached over and took the video camera from Reg's unresisting hands.  
  
"How did they all get in there, do you suppose?" asked Reg.  
  
"Don't know, but I'm aiming to find out," Edison said as he hurried to the door of the TARDIS.  
  
"Hey, don't-don't leave without me-e-e!" Max shouted.  
  
As Blank Reg watched, Edison eased up to the door of the booth, displayed a moment of confusion, then stepped inside. The door to the telephone booth shut as if it had reached it's full capacity and began making it's eerie grinding noise again before fading from view.  
  
Reg scratched his head. "Well, what do you think of that, Max?" Hearing no reply, Reg turned to see that the television set no longer occupied Max Headroom. "Now where'd he run off to?"  
  
*****  
  
Vincent's heart thundered in his chest as his feet pounded the concrete in his mad dash to get to his love. He had not seen or heard from her in months. No one knew where she had gone or what had happened to her. It had been so long that many of his closest friends had been trying to get him to accept that that his Catherine was most likely dead. Then suddenly a few moments ago he felt the return of the connection that he had with her, as well as the fact that she was in extreme distress – possibly life threatening.  
  
For as long as he could remember he had lived in the tunnels underneath New York City. Father, at least that is what he and many others called the man who had found and adopted him, had set up a home far beneath the city for those who needed to escape the harsh world above. Due to Vincent's unusual physical characteristics which gave him the visage and abilities of a man who was half-lion, he had been forced to remain hidden from mankind.  
  
Yet his features had not stopped him from finding love in the person of Assistant District Attorney Catherine Chandler who he had rescued one evening after she had been savagely attacked. Without meaning to he had opened up his whole being to her and much to his surprise discovered that they were kindred spirits of a very intellectual and romantic nature. Soon she began to mean everything to him. And then without warning she was gone.  
  
Vincent ducked under a low water pipe and turned into a new tunnel. The area ahead was lighted and two men stood there in some type of red and black spandex. He growled warningly as he ran past them. One of the men tried saying something to him but Vincent didn't bother to listen and continued on.  
  
He ducked under a low water pipe and turned into a new tunnel. The area ahead was lighted and two men – the same two men – were standing there as if waiting to see if he would stop this time. Both men had the same smug, superior smiles on their faces that caused Vincent's hackles to rise.  
  
"We really need to talk to you, Vincent," one of them spoke. "Are you ready to listen or do you need to run off more of your frustration?"  
  
The lion-like man roared his frustration as another wave of Catherine's terror flowed through the emotional link he had with her. He charged past the two men and down the tunnel in effort to somehow get to her in time.  
  
Towards the end of the tunnel, he ducked under a low water pipe and turned into a new tunnel. He slowed to a stop as he saw the same men standing there in the light. Looking around he could also tell that this was the exact same piece of tunnel that he had already run through twice, yet how he had become turned around he could not fathom. Seeing the mocking look in the two men's eyes and sensing that they were the ones blocking him from getting to Catherine's side, he charged with a thunderous roar.  
  
With his claws extended, he had gotten within four feet of the men when a bolt of lightning struck the ground at his feet, sending him flying off his feet. Vincent shook his head, his mane standing straight up due to the electric charge. He looked forlornly at them. "Please, I must go. There is someone who needs me."  
  
"We know, we know. You must save Catherine like you always have." The strange man stopped for a moment, the self-assured look was replaced with a touch of sadness. "But this time you can't save her."  
  
Vincent prepared to lunge at the two men again, but then saw the bright electrical sparks coming from the quieter, second man's hand. He did not know if these were angels or devils, but he knew they could not be the men they appeared to be. "Please, she is my life. I do not know why I have not been able to sense her for so long but I know she needs me now."  
  
Q sighed. Humans could be so dramatic and he suspected that it was rubbing off on him. "The reason you could not sense her any more is because she had become pregnant with your child. Your child's life essence blocked your connection with Catherine until now because your son is about to be born."  
  
Vincent's jaw dropped as he listened to what this man had to say. He instantly knew that it was true but nonetheless shocking.  
  
"Your Catherine had been kidnapped be a criminal multi-millionaire by the name of Gabriel. Once he learned of your existence he because fascinated with you. When he found out that Catherine carried your child he decided to take the child to be his own. Unfortunately, now that Catherine has born the fruit of your relationship Gabriel has decreed her expendable and the doctors delivering your child are to administer her a lethal injection as soon as the child is clear."  
  
"Nooooo!" Vincent howled. He looked at the two men desperately.  
  
"Just tell him how you plan to help him so we can get out of this loathsome place," commented Q2.  
  
"Yes, first let's freeze time." With a snap of his fingers, everything around them became still. Vincent could see ripples in nearby water puddles that appeared to have become still. On closer inspection he could see the water droplets falling from the ceiling that were causing the ripples were frozen in mid air, unable to fall into the puddle. "That will keep the doctors from continuing with Gabriel's plan until we get back."  
  
Vincent, no longer able to feel Catherine's fears, focused on the man's last words. "Get back? Get back from where?"  
  
"Just a moment, I'd like to bring your allies here first so that I can explain it to you all together."  
  
"Allies?" Vincent looked around. There was nothing around in this part of the sewer system except some turtles, rats and whatever other animals that managed to make this area their home.  
  
A mist rose up covering the far wall, and soon Vincent could hear water flowing past. Soon shapes began to appear through the fog and Vincent suddenly realized that the tunnel wall on the other side of the mist was no longer there.  
  
"We seem to be landing," spoke a strong deep voice through the fog. Vincent could make out the shape of an old fashion boat and one individual in particular seemed unusually large. As it came closer Vincent could tell that it's occupants were not all Human and he prepared himself for a possible fight. The reaction he got from the boat's occupants was not one he had expected however.  
  
"Brother! It is good to see another Gargoyle face!" said the lavender skinned giant with claws and teeth much like Vincent's own. This Gargoyle creature also seemed to have another feature that was unexpected; what he had first assumed were cloaks worn by the two Gargoyle creatures were in fact gliding wings folded up around them. The second Gargoyle was much younger and female. She seemed most curious about the two men behind Vincent as if she could sense something was unusual about them. The third Gargoyle was a type of hound that bounded off the craft with great joy, gave Vincent a curious sniff then ran about the alley checking out the other scents of the room as well as marking his territory here and there. The fourth occupant of the boat was a Human female of mixed descent. And even though she had not done so, Vincent could tell that she was prepared to pull out a gun and shoot him if she deemed necessary.  
  
"This is my daughter Angela. You've already met Bronx," said the large Gargoyle with the strong noble sounding voice. He held out a hand to the female human to help her out of the craft. "This is Elisa Maza. A good and trusted friend." The female nodded but wasn't as quick to trust as the male Gargoyle appeared to be. "And I am Goliath."  
  
The male Goliath held out his hand to Vincent. Vincent took it and was amazed at the strong grip. "I am not a Gargoyle," was all that he could think to say. "At least I do not believe so," he added reluctantly.  
  
Goliath seemed to study his features. "I have recently met Gargoyles of many shapes and sizes. You could easily be mistaken for one of our kind."  
  
"He is not," stepped forth one of the men in red and black spandex. "But he was created by someone that you know."  
  
All eyes drew to the man. "Pardon me. I really should introduce myself. I am Q and the fellow back there is Q2."  
  
"I was created?" Vincent said, the confusion and hurt welling up in him. What kind of man could create life and then just abandon it.  
  
Q nodded, heedless of Vincent's emotional pain. "There was a time mishap with one of the Gargoyles acquaintances. By the way, Gargoyles, the year right now is 1989; Goliath and Bronx are still stone statues at this point in history in Scotland. It will be six more years before you awake over New York."  
  
"Who... Who made me what I am?" Vincent asked in a tone that was almost a plea.  
  
"As I was saying... A time mishap sent a man - an assistant to Dr. Anton Sevarius -traveling back into the past with a child. The good doctor Sevarius, a geneticist above all others, had created a substance called mutagen and began experimenting on unsuspecting people in order to turn them into a type of Gargoyle. Needless to say those that had been experimented on were not to happy with their new bodies and took to forming their own clan and living in the sewers."  
  
"These sewers?" Vincent exclaimed.  
  
"Yes, they took to protecting the people in this area."  
  
"Perhaps you influenced Talon and the others in the future to take care of others," Elisa suggested.  
  
"Who is this Talon?" Vincent asked.  
  
"Your father, Vincent," Q2 answered.  
  
"What!?!" exclaimed Elisa.  
  
"Vincent is the future son of Derek Maza and Maggie Reed. He's your nephew, Elisa. Takes after his mother though," Q explained while shooting Q2 an annoying look.  
  
In the stunned silence, it was Goliath that first found words to speak. "But he has no wings."  
  
"The mutagen that Dr. Sevarius used was still experimental and not perfected," Q said as if bored with how long this was taking. "The Human gene wants to be just that – Human. And in each generation they will come closer and closer to becoming Human again. Vincent, though retaining the feline attributes, was born with out wings. Vincent's soon to be born son will be completely Human in appearance."  
  
Elisa gave out a laugh. "Derek won't even meet Maggie for years but he'll shortly be a grandfather. Time paradoxes can be such a headache."  
  
Vincent nodded as he studied the woman who had been introduced to him as his aunt.  
  
"But why are we here?" Angela asked. "Surely it was not so that Elisa could be reunited with her to be time lost nephew."  
  
"Ah, directly to the point. I thought you would be more willing to work for me if I reacquainted the torn apart family," said Q. "But enough about that, let me explain the situation and the horrendous conditions I've been forced to work under."  
  
Vincent noticed that Elisa came to stand next to him for which he was grateful. He had often wondered about his biological family, but never thought about it too much because he was sure that they would have rejected him. But Elisa seemed very comfortable around the Gargoyles, and if she had come to accept the transformation of her own brother than most likely she could accept Vincent, too. What he needed most right now was to get through all this for Catherine. The possibility of having her back meant more to him than anything else. Meeting family at this late date in his life was just an unexpected bonus, like finding out he was to be a father. He stilled his turmoiled thoughts the best he could as he attempted listening to the two beings known as Q explain about some creature called the Borg.  
  
*****  
  
Ogre sat high on his horse on the hill outside the once great city of Sydney. He had purposefully made the long trek around so that he would be approaching from upwind. The stench of the city had become unbearable and his horse would not go near it. Not that he blamed the animal. Ogre's dislike for the city and it's inhabitants were plain to anyone, especially those who rode with him.  
  
They stayed like that for twenty minutes before seeing anyone responding to their presence. "They come," Dingo said. Ogre snorted in acknowledgment. All the riders were given new names upon coming under his command. He personally chose the names for all his troops, which were named after an animal or a feature of an animal. 'So that they could aspire to the ferociousness of that animal,' he had told his lieutenants. He himself took the name of a monster. And he lived up to it too.  
  
Dismounting, he handed the reins over to Blaine, a young one who had not yet earned a name but currently served to help with the basic needs of the troop like cooking, cleaning, gathering wood or handling the horses.  
  
The rest of his troop dismounted as he did, trying their best not to groan as the ache of being in a saddle too long made itself felt by them. "Take the horses back," Ogre commanded. The smell of the city dwellers would have driven the horses into a frenzy and he was in no mood to chase horses all day.  
  
Lining up his soldiers so that they presented a formidable sight, Ogre walked to the front and awaited the oncoming horde. A horde they were, too. The whole countryside seemed to almost be covered as the city emptied it's inhabitants. Then at a thousand yards a shrill shriek arose causing the mass of beings to stop.  
  
Ogre snorted at this display but even he didn't dare offend them at this point. A single being disengaged itself from the assembly and slowly, cautiously made his way forward on all fours. The chieftain, like all those still living in the city once known as Sydney, was a baboon that had been biologically altered by having Human DNA spliced into his genes. Once they had slipped off the yokes of man, the Baboons had taken over the city of Sydney, Australia and bred like rats. This fact did not disturb Ogre very much since he and his troops shared a common history with the Baboons. He and his troops were Apes that had been transformed by the Humans to be more like them, to serve mankind actually, but in the end the Apes, Orangutans, Chimpanzees and Baboons shook off their shackles, much to the regret of man.  
  
The Baboon chieftain was starting to show his age. Scars marked his face, back and arms were he had already been fighting off some of his younger rivals for his position and harem. Traces of gray hair began to show and Ogre knew that it wouldn't be long till there would be a new chieftain to have to deal with. "What you want?" the Baboon said in a demanding manner, causing the Baboon horde to jump up and down shouting child-like insults at the Apes.  
  
Ogre raised a hand and his troop of Apes drew their guns and aimed them at the mass of Baboons. The Baboons withdrew twenty feet and became silent. While they knew that they could most likely overwhelm the Apes, they also knew that all those in the front would be shot dead or horribly wounded before even one Ape fell. Those further back would also be wounded or killed though some would survive, but they didn't want to take that chance. They had tried that route before and had not liked the experience at all.  
  
The chieftain looked back at his people with scorn. Then turned back to the Ape leader. "You want trade. You not shoot."  
  
"I will only have my soldiers shoot if I feel your people need a reminder to respect us." He let that sink in for a moment. "We have brought the grain your people need. Have you brought what we want?" It was a rhetorical question more than anything else. He could see the pieces of metal that the Baboons carried among them. A few in the back were even pulling an old truck to be part of the trade. Ogre always insisted on obtaining at least one vehicle each time they traded. He was impressed that they had actually taken off the brake and got it into neutral this time before pulling it all the way to meet him.  
  
The metal would be melted down by his Human slaves and then used to make guns, knives and various tools that the Apes, Orangutans and Chimpanzees needed. While he could find metal to use in other areas, the amount of metal found in the city seemed to make looking elsewhere pointless. Besides, it kept the Baboons busy looking for items of trade in the city. Those annoying creatures could become a real threat if they ever left Sydney and began spreading around the country. It was better to keep them bottled up. Plus, this year was going to get really dry and the winds looked like they would be just perfect for a grass fire leading up to the city. The council would not approve but they would be relived to have the Baboons gone just the same. The Baboons ate up too much of the grain supply that the Human workers produced. Even though they added feeding the dead or injured Humans to the Baboons, it seemed to never be enough. Besides, the Baboons were belligerent and hard to control.  
  
A pile of metal of every sort began to form. The truck, also filled with various metal scraps, was pushed up to it. Ogre smirked. The monthly haul would actually be worth something this time. It would be a strain of the donkeys, however, and he mentally plotted out a different route back that had more fresh water accessibility.  
  
"Apes keep Baboons safe?" spoke the chieftain.  
  
Ogre looked on the creature with disgust. "What is it now?" Last month the Baboon leader had wanted the Apes to hunt down the wild dogs that were running off with the Baboon babies left unattended. The month before he had complained about the poisonous snakes that had been attracted to the city now that so many rats lived there as well. Once Ogre showed them how to kill and eat the snakes safely, the number of snakes quickly declined.  
  
"Old stone gardens unsafe. None return who go there."  
  
Ogre squinted as he thought about that. The stone gardens would refer to one of the Human parks with statues in them. Some of his troops had seen Humans sneaking around near Sydney, perhaps they still had some fight left in them and were coming out of hiding. It suited him just fine. They could use more Human slaves and this way he and his soldiers wouldn't have to hunt them down. He would definitely be checking that out later.  
  
His troops moved aside as wooden wagonloads of grain were pushed by Apes towards the horde of excited Baboons. The Apes kept their weapons aimed to keep the beasts back until the last wagonload came to a stop. The last wagon carried the dead bodies of over twenty Humans that had died while slaving for the Apes, Chimpanzees and Orangutans. There were also four dead dogs, a kangaroo, thirty-two snakes, five hundred and thirty nine rabbits and a donkey that had broken it's leg on the trip there. As the Apes backed away, the chieftain stepped forward and took three of the rabbits from the last wagon, held them over his head, and turned to his people. He gave a loud shriek and the Baboon horde enveloped the wagons in order to claim some of the bounty for themselves.  
  
The Ape leader looked on in disgust as the baboons fought amongst themselves for the grain and flesh. His own soldiers were similarly disgusted, but were already sorting through the piles of metal and putting what they could melt down and use in baskets to throw on the carts after the baboons had cleared out and returned to their city.  
  
His eyes settled on one of his protégés, a chimpanzee, the first chimpanzee to try and become a soldier. Spur had come from a good family with a younger sibling. His parents learned what they could of medicine and treated everyone they could with the knowledge that they had. It had been when Spur's father had attempted to aid a Human slave, the slave turned and stabbed him. The young chimp had hated Humans ever since and persuaded Ogre to let him join his troops as a means to hunt and kill Humans. Ogre saw the young Chimpanzee as a means of encouraging other species to join his ranks and increase his influence over the different species and thus the Council. Such an opportunity Ogre was not about to overlook.  
  
"Spur!" shouted Ogre. "Take five fighters and check out the park down there. Look for any Humans."  
  
"Sir, there's not much of a park down there," Spur said. "Are you sure that is the area that the Baboon Chieftain was referring too?"  
  
Ogre scowled. He didn't like being questioned, but Spur had been right about the vagueness of the chieftain's tale. Ogre scanned the sprawling mass of Baboon flesh that still poured over the wagon but did not see any sign of the annoying creature. "Just check all the parks nearby. See if you can find signs of anything."  
  
He smiled at the sight of Spur racing back to where the horses were. "And try to bring some Humans back alive! I wish to interrogate them before killing them!"  
  
The Ape leader looked around at the Baboons and Apes milling around the different piles and laughed and laughed.  
  
*****  
  
Max cleared the eyepiece of the binoculars carefully before trying to look over at the congregation of Apes and Baboons. The other glass piece of the binocular had been broken for almost a year now. He had had to use it to bash in the head of a raider that had been intent on strangling him from behind but the other side of the binoculars worked fine and in this day and age you left nothing to waste. He had lived a hard life, first as a cop and family man; after his family died he left what remained of civilization and became a drifter fearlessly fighting for whatever he wanted yet not daring to become close to anyone for any length of time.  
  
The countries of the world had fallen apart after the apes revolted. Max had not approved of the corporations augmenting simians to become servants, but it had become practice worldwide for people and companies to use simian workers in menial jobs. Soon there were Apes, Orangutans and Chimpanzees everywhere. Someone had even begun genetically splicing Human DNA into Baboons and Sloths.  
  
It was during the Ape revolt that the EM bomb had been used. Who set it off nobody knew and since most of electronic equipment used for computers had been fried everybody had been to busy trying to stay alive to care. Luckily, cars and trucks had not been as vulnerable and were easily restored to full use; but that down time had handed the world over to the monkeys. Max and any other Humans that wanted to survive in Australia had had to flee into the deep desert areas were the simians did not appear to like to go. Some refused to leave and had ended up dead or worse - slaves to the Apes.  
  
Most of mankind, at least what remained of it in the middle of Australia, appeared to want to forget about the monkeys and had themselves reverted to more primitive and barbaric practices. Bartertown had been the ultimate example of how low mankind had come while at the same time showing how much imagination they still had.  
  
He grunted in frustration. He had been hoping to find something valuable for trade but with all these Ape troops around he didn't dare scavenge for very long in this area. At least he had been able to find a few fruits and vegetables growing wild. Better to pull together the items he had already gathered and get while the going was good.  
  
A slight noise behind him caused him to turn his head just in time to see the rapidly approaching end of long metal pipe with leather string tied to along with a few feathers. Then nothing.  
  
"You think he's a spy?" someone said.  
  
"If he was he was spying on the monkeys."  
  
"What's he got, man?"  
  
Jedediah, the man with the long pipe began riffling through Max's pockets while the second man looked around to ensure that they were not disturbed. "Compass. Canteen. Jar of –yuck- berries. Spool of wire – Cor, looks like he's used this to strangle somebody. Knife. Ouch! Fish hooks!" He transferred the items into his own pockets and then searched Max's other pockets. "Pliers. Screwdriver. Knife. Gun – no bullets, blast it. Five, no six arrowheads – made of metal, too. Two candles. Another knife. Brass knuckles. And – hey! – a hand grenade!"  
  
"Cheesh! We did good this time!"  
  
"Shut up and keep watch!" Jedediah looked over Max not wanting to miss anything. "You know, he seems kind of familiar to me."  
  
"He's not one of ours, is he?" the second man asked with concern. "Aunty will-"  
  
Max groaned, and Jedediah stiffened. "Oh geez, I do know him!" Before Max could do anything, Jedediah slipped on the brass knuckles and hit Max twice in the head.  
  
"Is he an enemy of yours?" asked the second man.  
  
Jedediah looked down at Max and his bloodied cheek. "Naw. Matter of fact he saved my life a few times. But he can be a real terror when he's pissed at you." The skinny pilot made sure everything was secured in his pockets before pulling Max into a sitting position. "Come on. Help me with him. Aunty's got business with this one."  
  
The other man grumbled but complied and soon the two men were dragging the third through the brush of nearby trees.  
  
*****  
  
Author's Notes: All right, now for the explanations that you must be wanting right about now. Both MAX HEADROOM and ROBOCOP were shows that were centered in a government that was falling apart and had allowed big corporations to undertake the upkeep of certain cities. Television stations were one of the biggest moneymakers of the time along with poverty and high scale technology. It seemed only natural for me to put these two shows together to form one world. I had originally planned on having Blank Reg go fight the Borg but I felt that Pudface Morgan would add a different element into the mix. And don't worry. Max Headroom did manage to sneak along for the trip.  
  
MAX HEADROOM (1987) Max Headroom/Edison Carter – (Matt Frewer) Theora Jones – (Amanda Pays) Blank Reg – (William Morgan Sheppard) Murray – (Jeffrey Tambor) Bryce Lynch – (Chris Young)  
  
ROBOCOP (1987) ROBOCOP 2 (1990) ROBOCOP 3 (1993) ROBOCOP: THE SERIES (1994 – 1995) Alex Murphy/Robocop – (Richard Eden) William Ray 'Pudface' Morgan – (James Kidnie) Diana Powers/NeuroBrain – (Andrea Roth)  
  
As for BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, well like most of the viewers I had not liked how the series changed suddenly when Catherine had been killed off leaving Vincent to avenge her and raise their son alone. So like many fanfiction writers I'm making the story more to my liking. And now the GARGOYLES, I had originally planned to save the GARGOYLES for a later story and use characters from the show EARTH 2 with Vincent and Mouse from BEAUTY AND THE BEAST for this one. But my wife was flipping through channels on television a few days ago at Mach 4 and I managed to catch a glimpse of the GARGOYLES cartoon show and felt I should incorporate it now since it had so many voices done by STAR TREK actors. I'll even list a few for you.  
  
Brent Spinner who plays Data on ST: TNG also does the voice for Puck on GARGOYLES. Michael Dorn who plays Worf on ST: TNG and ST: DS9 does voices for Coldstone and Taurus on GARGOYLES. Mirina Sirtis who plays Counselor Deanna Troi on ST: TNG also does the voice for Demona (aka Dominique Destine) on GARGOYLES. Nichelle Nicholes who plays Commander Nyota Uhura on ST: TOS also does the voice for Diane Maza on GARGOYLES. LeVar Burton who plays Geordie LaForge also did the voice for Anansi the Trickster on GARGOYLES. Kate Mulgrew who plays Captain Janeway also did the voices for Queen Titania and Anastasia Renard on GARGOYLES.  
  
As for other actor crossovers in this story - John Rhys-Davies who played Maximillian P. Arturo on SLIDERS also did the voice of MacBeth on GARGOYLES. William Morgan Sheppard who played Blank Reg on MAX HEADROOM also did the voices for Odin and Petros Xanatos on GARGOYLES. David Warner who played Senator Sandar on the PLANET OF THE APES also did the voice for the Archmage on GARGOYLES. Ron Pearlman who played Vincent on BEAUTY AND THE BEAST also played the part of Viceroy in STAR TREK: NEMESIS.  
  
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1987 – 1990) Vincent – (Ron Perlman) Assistant District Attorney Catherine Chandler – (Linda Hamilton) Father Jacob Wells – (Roy Dotrice) Gabriel – (Stephen McHattie)  
  
GARGOYLES (1994 – 199?) Goliath – (Keith David) Elisa Maza – (Salli Richardson) Bronx – (Frank Welker) Angela – (Brigitte Bako) David Xanatos – (Jonathan Frakes) Puck – (Brent Spiner)  
  
MAD MAX (1979) MAD MAX 2: THE ROAD WARRIOR (1981) MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME (1985) 'Mad' Max Rockatansky – (Mel Gibson) Aunty Entity – (Tina Turner) Jedediah the Pilot – (Bruce Spence) Jedediah Jr. – (Adam Cockburn) The Master – (Angelo Rossitto) Pig Killer – (Robert Grubb) 


	3. chapter 3

Chapter 3  
  
Dirt flew in the air behind the massive dog creature as it attempted to try to get the white rabbit that had dove down the hole in the ground. Finally the large creature lifted its head and snorted, disturbing the clump of dirt on his nose and revealing a long earthworm. Bronx shook his head of the dirt and worm sending both flying in every direction. Seeing movement in some brush nearby, the Gargoyle canine bounded off to investigate.  
  
"Will you hold still," complained the Starfleet holographic doctor. Although he was here against his wishes, the Voyager physician was trying to make the best of everything and was following Drs. Crusher, Bashir and Pulaski's example of taking as many readings of new lifeforms as possible with his medical tricorder. The doctor had already taken readings of the other Gargoyles and Vincent; both fascinating in the fact that somehow both showed augmented Human DNA. Commander Worf immediately took charge of informing the new recruits of all the dangers and pitfalls of fighting the Borg. He was also using this opportunity to establish himself as the Alpha leader of the group to which Goliath and Vincent seemed more amused than offended.  
  
"Now just stay there for one minute," muttered the doctor quietly when someone whistled.  
  
Bronx's head shot up from whatever he had been intensively investigating in the thick brush to see who was whistling then bounded towards him.  
  
"Not again," the doctor said in frustration. Over in the clearing, Vic, the Deep Space Nine holographic singer, was holding a stick over Bronx's head. "What do you think you are doing?" asked the physician.  
  
"I believe it's called 'fetch'," answered Vic as he through the stick into the woods. Bronx looked after it in apparent confusion. "I think you are supposed to go after it," Vic said, helpfully to the dog creature. Whether or not Bronx was heeding the hologram's advice, he finally did decide to chase after the stick.  
  
"I'm trying to get a detailed reading on that creature but that's going to be near impossible if you are going to be encouraging it to run around like you are."  
  
"Easy, doc. I didn't know. I'm just trying to have a little fun while I'm out of the holodeck, is all."  
  
The Starfleet doctor shook his head. "The holodeck is there for people to train safely and have recreation in. You can technically have fun in there any time you want."  
  
"That's easy to say when you don't live in there all the time," pointed out the lounge singer. He looked over to see Bronx bringing back the stick in his mouth. "You know, I've never had a dog before. I think I'm going to create one for myself when I get back to the holodeck," mused Vic.  
  
"Well, if you can get him to stand still long enough I can probably get you an exact copy of this creature," the doctor said snidely.  
  
"Not a problem, doc." Vic walked over to the Gargoyle dog. "Hey, sit, boy, sit. Hey, no, don't go after the birds! Hey! No! Come back!"  
  
Meanwhile, the doctor felt a malicious grin spread across his face. It felt good watching someone else go through just a little of his own frustrations.  
  
Across the little clearing, Angela was looking through a number of the wildflowers. "I have only seen flowers as splendid as this on Avalon."  
  
"What does it feel like to turn to stone every morning?"  
  
An amused smile crossed the female Gargoyle's face. "Like a comfortable blanket wrapping around you that takes you immediately to slumber."  
  
Jake considered this answer. "And when you wake up?" He picked a particularly pretty flower and handed it to Angela.  
  
Angela carefully placed the flower in her hair so that it would still point up. "It is as if sleep shed off you as easily as water does when you step out of a pool."  
  
"Uh," Jake's young mind took to the visual imagery all to easily. He shook his head slightly to remain on focus. "But since Q has made it so that you won't turn to stone in the daylight, will you still be able to sleep like I do? Um, that is to lay down and let yourself sleep – uh, I mean, slip off to unconsciousness so that your mind and body can rest."  
  
Angela tried to suppress a giggle but did not do so well. "Yes, Gargoyles can sleep like that, too. It's just not often necessary since we do most of our needed resting while in stone form."  
  
Jake caught himself staring at the female Gargoyle again so he purposefully looked beyond her so that he could focus. It did not help his abilities as a reporter that he found her intoxicatingly beautiful in an exotic way. She even had a tail! "You know, I think I'm going to go and record some of the conversation that Worf is having with your father and Vincent. That is something that I should be doing since I'm trying to establish myself as a reporter."  
  
Angela sat down on an old log to examine some of the wild fauna growing next to it. "Yes, that does sound important for your career."  
  
"Um, okay then," the young man managed to say, walking backwards since he seemed to be having a hard time turning away. A sticker bush of some kind caught his attention real quick once he backed into it, and from then on he watched where he was going while he rubbed his posterior.  
  
"Excuse me, you-you're blocking my scanning," said a man behind Jake in a nervous tone. "Move!" he sharply said when Jake didn't move right away.  
  
"Ah, sorry," Jake managed to say but the man didn't seem to care as he was already turning to scan in another direction. Jake noticed the tricorder in the man's hand shaking but said nothing as he continued on his way over to where Worf was still trying to explain battle tactics against the Borg.  
  
"Reg," said a female voice with a soft tone. "That wasn't very polite."  
  
Lt. Reginald 'Reg' Barclay tried shrugging but he was just too tense. "The Borg could come at us from any side! I mean, it's the Borg! We have to be ready! And for that we need someone to do proper scanning!"  
  
It had already been confirmed that the Borg were miles from their current location, but Reg's current state was not willing to totally accept that fact. Deanna sighed as quietly as she could then slowly circled around Reg and put her hands on his shoulders. He stiffened, but relaxed a little as she applied pressure. "Reg. Reg, you have to get yourself under control. Or you will more of a hazard to us then a help."  
  
A shudder went through the man's body. "But why me? I mean, I... I..." His arms, which had been flailing about in frustration, fell to his sides as he could come up with nothing to say.  
  
In a slightly exasperated tone, Deanna leaned in close causing Reg to become still. "Reg, you have to calm down. Your...emotions...are distracting me."  
  
"Oh...oh. I-I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'll-I'll-" He tried to turn and face her but she held him still with a strong grip, still massaging his shoulders.  
  
"Just reign in your emotions. Your fear, running unchecked, will cause us problems; for you, me, and, as a result everyone else."  
  
"I know," he nodded meekly. "Fear is the mind killer."  
  
"What?" she said, not understanding the reference.  
  
"Sorry, uh, it's a quote from a twentieth century holo. I mean, a twentieth century film. It may have also been a book series, I think."  
  
"You haven't been spending too much time in the holodecks again, have you?"  
  
"No. No. Nothing like before. Really. I've kept to the scheduled amount of recreational time in the holodeck. Not exceeding the limits you recommended," he added, hastily.  
  
"That's good, Reg. You seem to be doing well," she said, still rubbing his shoulders. Empathically, she could feel him relaxing and becoming surer of himself.  
  
"Yes, I've been doing good this past year," he went into explaining. "I've had to do some research using holodeck technology but as part of a team. I've even looked into deep space communication." He paused as if deciding something. "Perhaps...perhaps we could...if you are interested, that is...we could take some time and...I've found some interesting replicator meals, including a very rich chocolate truffle sundae I'm sure you'd love."  
  
Deanna groaned internally as her empathic abilities revealed some of Reg's long ago romantic feelings starting to return. She mentally reminded herself that he had not been in Quark's bar when Q had made Worf and her appear there suddenly as they were making out. She decided that being honest and blunt was the best thing to do at this time. "I'd love to. We could talk about old times as well as new. But you should know that I've recently become involved with Worf."  
  
Reg's ego plummeted while embarrassment and hurt rose within him. "I...I..."  
  
"Reg, I'd like to think that we've become friends over the time we've known each other."  
  
"Friends," he mumbled, disheartedly.  
  
"Yes, friends," she repeated, letting go of his shoulders so that she could come around and face him. "And while I may be friendly to just about everybody, I keep a small circle of friends. And I hold their friendship dear to me. She could feel most of his hurt subsiding but his embarrassment remained 'Time to rechannel all that emotional energy,' she thought to herself. "But even though we are good friends, I am surprised that you are willing to spend any time with me right now."  
  
Confused, Reg asked, "What do you mean?"  
  
"Well, considering that the lounge singer over there and the Starfleet doctor next to him are both sentient holograms, I thought that you'd be more interested in talking to them than with me."  
  
A light dawned in Reg's eyes. "The Voyager's medical hologram! I had wanted to talk to him ever since I'd heard of his existence." He watched the two photonic beings trying to get the medical tricorder out of the Gargoyle canine's mouth. The dog creature, for his part, seemed to enjoy the unfair wrestling match. "You know," continued Reg, "I had heard that one of the holodecks on Deep Space Nine was being continually run on a early twentieth century casino setting but I didn't know it was for a sentient hologram living in it." Bronx joyfully took off across the field with the tricorder in his massive maw and the doctor clinging precariously to the creature's back, while the singer chased after them. "Ah, you don't mind?"  
  
Deanna shrugged. "Go already and make friends."  
  
Reg took off like an excited boy, causing Deanna to burst out laughing. She soon sat down on a nearby log to watch the antics for a while; purposefully forgetting the upcoming dangers that lay in store for them.  
  
He was coughing and sputtering already when the second bucket of water splashed over him. "Who?" Max shook his head, his long hair flying wildly around. Wiping the water from his eyes, he looked up to see a figure that he knew from long ago holding a dripping bucket by its handle. "You!"  
  
"G'day, mate," Jedediah said with a wide smile, showing two rows of filthy teeth that would cause a dentist to cringe.  
  
Max lurched forward only to come up short when he reached the end of a chain that had been manacled to his leg. He was in a wooden barn that had been long abandoned but was currently lined with a number of people looking at him. Max ignored that and focused his attention on the clamp on his leg, which was connected to a pole that appeared to be one of the supports for the roof. He then took note of the other members of the room. They were dirty, rugged, and what he noticed most, they were not chained up like he was.  
  
As he crawled back and got to his knees, Max began to run his hands through his various pockets to see what he still had to defend himself with.  
  
Jedediah took a step forward. "You've been picked clean, old friend, so just relax and make nice, 'kay?"  
  
As his hand fumbled over his belt, Max began to unobtrusively as possible to begin to free the object wrapped around himself. "Last I saw of you, I left you with a plane load of kids flying into the sunset."  
  
The old pilot's face took on a sterner look. "That lot. They didn't think too much of me. And didn't like all the monkeys running all over the place either. They soon took to looking for greener pastures and haven't been heard from since."  
  
"And your boy?"  
  
"That's not your worries!" he said in a sterner tone.  
  
"You're right," agreed Max. He dropped the length of the short whip that had been wrapped around him under his belt; with a flick of his wrist the end of the whip wrapped around the pilot's throat. With a quick pull, Max had the chocking Jedediah in his grasp before anyone could do anything. Not that any of the spectators tried.  
  
Patting down his captive, Max soon found a knife. Taking the knife out he applied it to the old pilot's throat just above Jedediah's fingers which were trying to loosen the cord cutting into his airway. At first glance, Max recognized the knife as one of his own. He smiled. "Nice of you to keep my knife for me. You didn't wash the poison off the blade, did you?"  
  
Jedediah became still. "P-poison?" he said, trying not to let the blade cut into his throat.  
  
"Oh yeah," Max lied. "You can never be too careful." He looked hard around the room trying his best to convey the message that if they came at him they might be receiving more than a simple knife wound for their troubles. Instead the room laughed.  
  
The laughter ceased when someone appeared in the doorway. The ex-police officer squinted to see who the newcomer was but the sunlight obscured everything except a pair of feminine legs. "Well, well, well. If it isn't my old friend, the raggedy man," spoke a deep, throaty female voice.  
  
A chill went down his spine as he remembered Aunty Entity. She had managed to build herself a place called Bartertown in the middle of the wasteland. To get in you had to prove that you had something of value with which to trade. That proved to be somewhat of an obstacle for Max as he had just been robbed by Jedediah, and in order to gain access to Bartertown to find his property as well as the thief, Max offered his services as a fighter. And a fighter's services in just what Aunty Entity needed. To aid in the growth of Bartertown, she had brought in MasterBlaster who had come up with a means of using methane from pig excretions to power generations and thus provide electricity for Bartertown. And as electrical power flowed through Bartertown, people had come to share in that long gone luxury. Unfortunately for Aunty, the power had also gone to MasterBlaster's head and he lorded himself over the founder of Bartertown.  
  
MasterBlaster had actually been two people however. Blaster was the muscle; a large hulk of a man who always wore a metal mask and never spoke, yet obeyed everything Master said. Master was a dwarf who had most often been seen riding on a chair on Blaster's shoulders. Max had been hired to remove the muscle, so that Aunty could more easily deal with the brains.  
  
Blaster had died but Max had betrayed Aunty Entity for which Aunty left him to die of thirst in the desert. With the help of a lost tribe of children, Max recovered and was able to rescue the dwarf known as Master, more for spite of Aunty than anything else. In the end, Master and the children flew away with Jedediah while Max stayed behind to enable their escape. Aunty had had the opportunity to take her revenge on the lone road warrior but chose to let him go. Was she still willing to let bygones be bygones? Max wasn't sure he wanted to find out.  
  
"Let me go!" he demanded, pulling the gasping pilot even closer to him.  
  
Aunty was in her fifties now but still had a lithe, dangerous beauty about her. She smiled enigmatically. "Do you really think that his life matters to me?" She turned back to the doorway. "Killer!" she called.  
  
A man stepped into the doorway blocking the light. He bore a slight limp on his right side and wore some type of leather and metal armor composite on his arms and legs. "You need somethin', Miss Entity?" he asked in a friendly tone.  
  
She tossed his a mess of keys on a large metal key ring which he caught. "Unshackle him," she said, jerking her thumb towards Max. "Then bring him over to my place. He and I need to talk." She turned back to Max one more time. "My men have spotted some unusual people that have appeared a couple of miles from here. I need someone who can check them out yet also stand against any apes that you come across."  
  
The man nodded and stepped aside quickly as she exited the door. Many of the other occupants of the room, seeing that there was not going to be a show also chose to head outside.  
  
Max was rather surprised by the turn of events himself but was happier of the outcome. As the man called Killer came forward however, Max was surprised by yet another recognizable face and in this case, chest as the words 'Pig Killer' was poorly tattooed in red on his chest.  
  
"Eh, I know you!" Killer said. "You're the bloke that freed me from Bartertown."  
  
Max just nodded, as he remembered meeting the one-time slave working among the pigs shoveling manure for methane. Killer, as he was evidently being called now, had been found guilty of killing a pig in order to feed his family. As pigs were a precious commodity in Bartertown, Killer had been branded with the words 'Pig Killer' on his chest and sentenced to work the rest of his life in the methane plant under Bartertown. How this man had come to work for Aunty yet again was beyond Max's imagination currently and at present he just didn't care. "Come on and free me already!" he insisted.  
  
Killer got down on one knee and began sorting through the keys, heedless of Jedediah's apparently precarious situation. "I had wondered what had happened to you," Killer said, making conversation to pass the time. "Shortly after I joined up with Aunty and her group she mentioned that she had let you off. I figured it would only be a matter of time before we crossed paths again." He turned a key and a manacle fell off one of Max's ankles. As the other one came off, Max pushed the pilot from him so that he could get to feet.  
  
Max got his short whip from around Jedediah's neck but did not let him go. "I'm going to go talk with Aunty now. When I get back you had better have all my belongings back for me or I'm going to finish strangling you, you hear?"  
  
The pilot nodded as worked at regaining his breath. He could here Killer chatting with the ex-cop as they left which was fine by Jedediah. Alone in the building, the pilot worked to get to his knees. As much as he wanted to rest just then, he knew he had to go and collect the fighter's belongings, some of which he had already traded to some of the blokes that had been watching him be strangled. They were definitely going to want extra for the things Jedediah needed to trade back for. It was not going to be a good day for him after all.  
  
Spitting in disgust, Pudface Morgan surveyed the trees around him. "It's horrible how all these resources are being wasted. These trees should be cut down and turned into lumber or paper or something. It's stupid to just let them sit in the ground like they are." He swatted a fly that seemed to be very focused on him. "And it let's bugs breed!" he snapped.  
  
"You evidently know very little about ecology or biology," spoke Edison, as he also took in the luscious landscape of Australia.  
  
"I know what's profitable!" snarled the massive criminal.  
  
On a small hill only ten feet high stood the formidable figure of Robocop, standing as a silent sentry, surveying the wooded area around them. Morgan raised an offending finger at the cyborg.  
  
"He's not even facing you," the newsman said, disgusted with Morgan's behavior.  
  
"But he knows," spat the villain. "They put all kinds of sensors in that freak tin man. I know he's watching for those Borg buggers but I know he's got a few of those sensors trained on me. Me and Robo-jerk have history." He snatched up a rock and threw it with all his might at the figure on the hill; it fell twelve feet short of the cyborg cop. "You ain't taking me in, Robocop! I'll see you become scrap metal before this is over!"  
  
Over near the TARDIS, Kenny leaned against a tree and glanced in disgust over at Pudface. "I've always hated his kind," he said softly to Leela, who was busy preparing three rabbits she had killed upon arrival.  
  
"He is our ally for now," Leela answered. "But I do not trust this one with my back either. Would you like me to show you how to treat these animal skins?" she said, changing the subject. She was currently putting thin sticks through the bodies of the rabbits in order to place them over the fire to cook.  
  
In answer, Kenny leaned over and scooped up the three brown rabbit skins. "I've been able to cure leather hides since I was ten, and believe me, that was a long time ago." He began gathering up some of the other items that he would need to start the process. "What's taking so long?" he asked, nodding toward the TARDIS.  
  
"The Doctor is trying to save K-9's memory as well as start his repairs. Some of the repairs will be done by the TARDIS itself but the Doctor still has to set everything in motion."  
  
"K-9 was smoking pretty bad," the young Immortal said. "Hey, why do you need rabbit skins anyway?"  
  
"The Doctor travels to many places, including some that are very cold," the huntress explained. "I find it better to be prepared. Besides, the leather that I wear needs to be replaced from time to time due to wear and tear."  
  
Kenny nodded. With all his years as an Immortal, he knew more about the wear and tear of leather than Leela could, but he temporarily gave up reminding her that he was much older and experienced than he looked.  
  
Exiting from the TARDIS, the Doctor wiped his hands roughly with a rag that he promptly put into one of the many pockets of his long coat.  
  
"How's K-9?" Kenny asked with a tone of concern that surprised even him.  
  
"His memory is salvageable, but I'm going to have to replace many of his other features due to structural damage. I'm thinking of using this as an opportunity to give him some upgrades."  
  
"Upgrades?" Leela said with a confused tone.  
  
"Oh, increasing his sensors, adding a view screen to one of his sides, perhaps a mechanical arm that comes out of his back, the ability to hover when encountering rough terrain, perhaps some tranquilizing gases."  
  
"Hey, how about a grenade launcher?" suggested Kenny.  
  
The Doctor's eyebrows furrowed. "To dangerous and aggressive."  
  
"The Doctor doesn't like deadly force," Leela explained, though Kenny could tell that she didn't entirely agree with the Doctor on that subject.  
  
The Doctor was oblivious to this subtle exchange as he was examining the rabbit the Kenny was in the midst of tanning. "Why on Earth are you doing that to those poor small creatures?"  
  
"Because I don't have time to hunt down something larger," Leela explained matter-of-factly. "But these will make nice soft leather to wear."  
  
The time lord held down his revulsion. "But I've shown you that I have a wide range of clothing that you could wear."  
  
The female warrior shook her head. "I prefer to wear something that I have killed myself. It is the way of my people," she said, as if that explained everything.  
  
The Doctor threw up his hands and walked away. Leela looked baffled as to his strange behavior while Kenny just grinned in amusement and suggested she turn the rabbits over the fire before they burned.  
  
Meanwhile, Edison had left Pudface Morgan to his own ranting. He knew that the large criminal by reputation was extremely dangerous but not completely stupid. He would rant and rave at the mechanized Old Detroit/Delta City officer of the law but currently even he wasn't about to harm him. The Doctor had explained it to them quite clearly. None of them could go home until the Borg were stopped from taking over this world that was both similar and yet different from their own. The strange man's claims seemed outrageous, yet the obvious evidence of the TARDIS itself gave great strength to his assertions and even Pugface agreed in the end.  
  
The news reporter from Channel 23 ducked under a branch and sat in the shade. The sun was hot and not what he was used to.  
  
"Hey, I-I-I can't see anything-ing from this angle!" came a cry from the news camera he had been carrying.  
  
Edison sighed and turned the camera from a better angle of the TARDIS. Max had been silent around Pudface, showing actual fear of the villain which made Edison wonder just what the man had done to Max after he had kidnapped him.  
  
"Thanks-s-s."  
  
"Max, next time ask before jumping into my camera, okay?" It had been just after the newsman had entered the old telephone booth that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere in order to film another battle between Pudface Morgan and Robocop that he noticed that he could no longer record anything. It didn't take him long to figure out that the reason for that was because Max, his computerized double, had electronically jumped from the television he had occupied and into the circuitry of his video camera, thus making it impossible to record anything.  
  
"So-so-so, this is what another-ther universe-se looks like-ike-ike. Very green, isn't it-it?"  
  
"Yes, Max. It's very green Lot's of plant life in this area. It's Australia, I'm told. Somewhere near Sydney."  
  
"Is that an A.I. program?" the Doctor said, walking up to Carter.  
  
Edison nodded. "Yeah, meet Max Headroom. He's a computerized copy of my brain, yet he is quite different from me. Max, meet Dr. uh... Sorry, I didn't get your last name, Doctor."  
  
"Yes, I know," the Doctor absently replied while examining the large news camera.  
  
"Hey! Hey! Watch-atch the hands-s, buddy!" exclaimed Max, indignantly as the camera was turned around at different angles. "Say, I can't-an't find any televisions relays-ays nearby-by."  
  
"That because there aren't any," explained Carter. "This area seems to have been deserted for some time. There is what appears to be a small town that we can see on the other side of that hill Robocop is standing on but it appears to have been abandoned years ago."  
  
"No television at-t all-l-l?" the digitalized man said, horror building with each syllable. "Help! I'm trapped-ed in here! Carter! Carter, please tell me-me that I-I-I didn't escape Pudface only-ly to be trapped in-in here-ere!"  
  
"Calm down, Max," Edison said, taking back the news camera from the time lord. "It's not that bad," he said to his computerized likeness on the small screen of the camera.  
  
The Gallifrian left the newsman to talk with his binary self, and climbed the small hill to stand next to the Delta City police officer. Robocop was still as a statue but alert and guarding their position. He had been the only one that the Doctor had been hoping to recruit; possibly some of his fellow officers as well. Instead he was stuck with a belligerent criminal, a news reporter and an immature A.I. program that was trapped in news camera.  
  
The scene was as bleak as Edison was described it which gave the Doctor some hope. The less people and technology around the less quickly the Borg would be able to advance.  
  
Feeling very tired, he activated the Starfleet comm-link pinned to his coat.  
  
The young male Chimpanzee leaped off his horse and viewed the small town. This was the sixth small town they had come upon in their search for Humans in the suburban towns of Sydney and so far they only sign they had found was of a half buried feces that was about a week old.  
  
The Gorillas under his command rode up behind him, their horses lathered and tired. Spur, being much lighter than the heavy Gorillas, had been an easier lode on his horse and thus able to travel faster than the others. Everyone handed their reigns over to the youngest member of their group, Hawk. Hawk was just a youngster, just old enough to join the troop of Apes and was new to riding. He was very glad to be on his own two feet and gratefully took the reigns from the others with a tooth smile. He took a quick bite out of an apple he carried, seeing his commander's frown, Hawk quickly passed the apple to one of the horses that quickly ate up any evidence of its existence.  
  
"Spread out!" Spur commanded. The others got out their rifles and began choosing which houses they were going to investigate.  
  
Making sure that the others were covering the area appropriately, Spur spotted a two-story house further away from the others with a small group of trees behind it. A perfect place to watch hidden Humans to watch the area from and still get away.  
  
Careful not to be obvious, Spur went behind some houses on his left and slowly made his way over to the far home. A tire hung from a tree moving slowly from side to side in the slight breeze. Glass panes of the home were broken, pieces of furniture scattered around the yard, Spur turned up his nose at the refuse.  
  
Keeping low, he came around to one of the windows and looked in. The place was strangely empty till he saw the fireplace. Someone had been here years prior and burned all the furniture in the fireplace. The large pile of ashes in the fireplace with various charred metal pieces poking out proved that that is where all the furniture went and the large amounts of cobwebs over the entrance of the fireplace. He knew then that the house was empty and he turned his back to it.  
  
A loud shout from the other end of town drew his attention that was followed by rifle shots and other sounds that he had never heard before. Spur ran back the way he had come. As he cleared the last house, he came upon a sight that stopped him in his tracks.  
  
Humans, as well as Baboons, wrapped in black leather and metal were firing beams of red light as his soldiers. Four Gorillas lay on the ground; two others were trying to fire on the attackers. One of the attackers, a large, pale man with reptilian features around the neck and strange ridges on his forehead leaned down over one of the stunned Gorillas. Two thin prongs sprung out of his wrist like daggers. Then just as quickly, the reptilian man plunged them into the shoulder of the Gorilla at his feet. The Gorilla howled as he regained conciseness through the pain, but was unable to move as of yet. Gray veins bulged and spread across his features.  
  
Spur shook off his initial shock and took aim with his rifle. The shot hit the ground next to the strange individual but he took no note of it. Others around him did, however, and Spur suddenly found a number of the red beams fired by the metallically attired Baboons striking the house he was standing next to. Spur quickly ducked behind some boulders the previous residents had found to large to move.  
  
"Commander!" came a shout.  
  
Spur saw Hawk riding his house as low as he could while pulling the reigns of all the other horses behind him.  
  
"Grab one, sir! The others are all done for!" shouted Hawk.  
  
A quick glance by Spur confirmed what Hawk had said. All his soldiers were down and being stabbed by the strangely garbed invaders. With a snarl he leaped upon one of the horses that had belonged to one of his men and dug in his heals.  
  
Three horses fell under the red beams but none got to Spur or Hawk as they raced away down a path through a groove of trees.  
  
"There were Baboons! Working with Humans!" Hawk exclaimed.  
  
"I saw," he answered. "Now let's go tell Ogre."  
  
Author's notes:  
  
The 'fear is the mind killer' quote by Reg was from the book series of 'Dune'. If you haven't read the books which are lengthy you may want to try the movies. 'Dune' was made into a movie in 1984. The Sci-Fi channel made a remake of it in 2000, followed by the sequel, 'Children of Dune' in 2003. Personally I prefer the 1984 version which had Patrick Stewart in it.  
  
Also want to remind people that when the Doctor and Q go to recruit people to fight the Borg that they each go to different parallel universes. Thus the Gargoyle/Beauty & the Beast universe is a different universe from the Max Headroom/Robocop universe. I would be interested in hearing about how you, the readers, would put some of this universes together though. Perhaps even sending me a little drabble of what you think would be the most interesting part. I'd love to read it.  
  
Until later. Charlie Nelson Ordinaryguy2juno.com 


	4. chapter 4

Chapter 4 

Keeping the horses at a good gait, Spur concentrated on how he was going to best present this disastrous development to his superior, Ogre. He had lost four Gorillas under his command while he himself was returning unharmed because he had run away. True, the odds had been overwhelmingly stacked against him, but Ogre didn't always consider that to be a deciding factor. He could already feel the accusing glares of mates and children of those he had left behind which did nothing to lighten his mood.

His sole remaining companion, Hawk, had rode next to him for fifteen minutes now, after the Chimpanzee had finally threatened him with staking the youngster onto an ant hill if he didn't stop his whimpering and let him think. Using that quiet time of riding in the saddle, Spur reflected on the things Ogre would want to know first; how and where they had been defeated. Then he tried focusing on the 'what' which had defeated them. There had been about over a dozen Humans and Baboons all wearing black and sporting unusual, but horribly effective weaponry. Just what kind of weaponry, Spur couldn't even begin to guess.

His best guess as to who might be leading them was the one tall Human-like man that was in front of the others. But unlike the others, this man had a strange circular ridge on his forehead and seemed to have scales for skin showing on his neck. Spur's hackles raised at the very thought of the unnatural creature. Having never heard of a Carrdassian, the young Chimpanzee had no concept as to just how alien the scale-skinned creature was.

Riding close behind him, Hawk held onto a rope connected to the remaining horses. Shortly after getting away and establishing that they were not being followed - at least not closely – they had stopped and tied the horses to each other so that they could follow behind in a line. Hawk was good with horses. They were one of the few joys of his life and one of main reasons he chose to try join Ogre's troops and ride rather than be a guard at home who just marched around all day.

As he contemplated recent events with the attack by joint Human/Baboon attack, he realized suddenly that he had had his first real brush with an enemy and he hadn't fought at all. One second he had watching the others spread out to search the small cluster of homes while he absently tended to the horses, and the next he saw Canine get struck with something bright and fall senselessly to the ground. The other Gorillas had howled out in anger and indignation, firing their rifles at the intruders who were stepping slowly out from the houses they had been inside, heedless of the weapons being fired on them.

He had wanted to doubt his senses but some kind of unseen barrier on the attackers seemed to block the Apes bullets. As he continued to watch, Raptor fell next and Spur found he could only watch in growing terror as the newcomers stepped closer towards him. There may have been three hundred feet between him and them but in that moment they seemed almost on top of him. It was only when a black mare near him had been struck by one of the bright rays of light and fallen on the ground that Hawk found he could move. And move he did, leaping up onto Canine's horse and kicking his heels hard into the mare's sides with a much quicker precision than Ogre had ever been able to get him to do during practice drills.

It had been only dumb luck that he had kept hold of the reigns of the remaining horses as he rushed them away. And fortunately, he had got some of his wits back enough to swing by and pick off Spur before leaving the hideous little cluster of houses behind him. He needed someone to explain to him what was going on and what to do next.

"Spur?"

Spur let out an aggravated sigh. "What?" he snapped.

"What kind of weapons were those?"

The Chimpanzee frowned, not knowing the answer. "Perhaps it's some experimental weapon that the Humans had from before, when they were in power." Before Hawk could ask anymore frustrating questions, he added, "Ogre may know. Let's save that question for him." He was pretty sure that Ogre would never have heard of such a weapon, but that was something that he didn't want to discuss with Hawk.

Spur's focus was on getting to Ogre became more intense thanks to Hawk's few words so he encouraged his horse to go at a faster pace. Behind him he could hear Hawk following his example of speeding up while pulling the string of horses behind him along.

From out of the treeline area a hundred yards ahead of them, something massive and gray charged out of the brush and ran straight towards them. Spur made a grab for his rifle but his horse reared suddenly on it's back two feet. Spur barely caught hold of the mane as the bridle had already fallen out of his fingers. Out of the side of his eye he could see Hawk trying to control the other horses, which had become skittish. As the horse kept rearing in terror, Spur became more and more concerned with his situation as the gray creature loomed closer. As the horse reared again, Spur's head collided with the back of the horse's head causing his hands to momentarily loosen their grip on the horse's mane.

The sky seemed to swirl around him as he slid down the horse side. The ground hit him hard causing him to gasp for breath. As his consciousness cleared, he rolled over with a groan. His horse was running off down the trail and at the moment Spur was glad because otherwise he was sure that he might have shot the dumb beast. Thinking of his rifle, the stunned Chimpanzee padded the ground near him in case his weapon had happen to land near him.

Somewhere behind him he could hear Hawk shouting to him but he could not comprehend what he was saying. He started to pull himself slowly up when he noticed something moving beside him. Glancing over, he was just able to make out the shape of a large thin shape darting towards him before he felt a sharp stabbing pain in his wrist. A snake!

He cried out in pain but still had the enough sense to grab at the legless reptile with his other hand and pull it off. The large snake was clamped onto his wrist and seemed unwilling to let go. Spur's Chimpanzee instincts took over and the hybrid humanoid began biting into the body of the snake with his incisors while he rolled on the ground trying to dislodge his attacker.

Finally, in a mighty pull the snake came free and Spur hurled the creature with all his might at a nearby bolder where it left a bloody splatter that some passersby might later mistake for a type of modern art.

Sitting in an upright position, Spur began sucking at the poison in his arm in hopes that the bite might not prove fatal. As he sat there wondering whether or not he was going to survive, the large gray beast trotted up the last few yards and then sat there looking at him.

Spur spat out a mouthful of poison and starred in wonder at the massive creature before him. It looked like a cross between a Rhinoceros and a large dog; perhaps it was even one of those Tasmanian Devils that Humans that thought extinct. The snake-bit Chimpanzee could reach no conclusions on those thoughts, as his mind seemed to be giving into shock effects of the venom. In the distance he thought he could hear voices shouting but when he tried to look the scenery seemed to swim before him. The gray creature came closer and sniffed at him, sneezed, and then seemed to whine in a canine manner. It's a dog after all, Spur managed to think to himself before falling over and letting the darkness take him.

Edison groaned as sensations returned to him. The first thing he felt was the feet of some small lizard quickly moving off his face. With more effort than it should have taken, Edison Carter rubbed his face where the small lizard had stood. The sun was high overhead and feeling quite hot. Realizing he would either have to do something to find some shade or roast in the sun and allow the little lizard and all its friends to eat a hot meal later. He chose to sit up and look for shade.

His mouth had a strange metallic taste causing him to reflexively wipe it. As he looked around what he first saw made him gag. In the shade of a nearby tree, the Doctor was frantically working over the torso of Delta City's most dedicated office, Robocop. Both legs had been blasted off- one at the knee and the other closer to the hip. He had also lost his right arm at the elbow. The chest armor also showed some blast marks but did not seem to have penetrated.

"What-what are you doing? What happened?"

The Doctor glanced back at the reporter. "Good. You're up. Hurry over here. I'll need your help if I'm going to be able to save him."

He tried getting to his feet but failed due to the sudden whirling of the planet. Staying on his hands and knees he managed to scramble over to the Doctor's side in surprisingly good time all things considered. He had managed to bang his knee into a projecting rock along the way, however, but this seemed to help restore his senses and didn't slow him much.

"Now what-" Edison stopped in stunned silence. On the other side of cyborg police officer's body laid another type of cyborg that fit the description that the Doctor had given them about the Borg. This one leaked a white blood-like substance from its head where something had struck it.

"I'm going to have to operate."

Edison's head snapped back to the Doctor. "I thought you said you weren't that type of doctor?"

"I'm not!" he snapped. "But I am very versatile in many fields. Robotics and Cybernetics just happens to be two of them." The Doctor quickly wound his scarf around his neck a few times and then tied the two ends behind him so that they would not get in the way.

"Put these on," instructed the Doctor as he handed Edison a pair of plastic gloves usually used by physicians and nurses.

"But he's not bleeding."

"It's not for blood, it's to keep the nanites in the drone's body from infecting us accidentally."

"The drone's body? I thought you were going to save Robocop."

The Doctor groaned in exasperation. "The drone's body is hopefully going to supply a means of restoring Robocop's life support."

"Oh, right. Let's get on it."

The 'operation' could have taken fifteen minutes or it could have been an hour. Edison lost all track of time and could not tell. The Doctor would ask him to lift a lid on the drone or Robocop, put certain wires together, or find where the Doctor had last put down his sonic screwdriver. The only reason that he thought Robocop was still alive was the Doctor's steadfast determination as well as the occasional jerking of the cyborg's body. He did the best he could to ignore the other three drone bodies that littered the clearing that they were in. A part of him wondered where the others had gone but decided now was not the best time to press the Doctor about such things. Robocop's life was on the line and he was also their best defense.

"Well that does it then," commented the Doctor as he put the last cover on Robocop's chest.

"So...he'll live?"

"What? Oh yes," said the Doctor. "I had him stabilized shortly after we had begun."

"But...then what took so long?"

"Since I had him open and available I thought I'd borrow a few of the Borg devices and upgrade Robocop's abilities. Shielding, sensors. He definitely needs new arm and legs."

Edison tried not to get upset. Instead he brushed off his clothes the best that he could. "Well, if you could spare a moment now, could you tell me what happen here?"

The Doctor was already on the move down the path, but did call back an answer. "We were attacked. You were immediately stunned so that's why you have no recollection of it. Come along. We have other things to check on."

Edison hurried after the strange man who was now readjusting his scarf while walking. "I've already figured that out. But what happened to the others..." His voice trailed off as he saw the Doctor step over Kenny's prone body. "Oh my word!" He hurried over to the boy's side but the child was still. "He's dead." A horrible burn mark marred the chest of the young lad. Three feet away the boy's machete was embedded in the eye socket of a female drone.

"He'll get better," responded the Doctor offhandedly. "But I think you might be more interested in this just now."

"What are you talking about..." Kenny's lifeless hand fell from his as he saw what the time-lord was talking about. Edison's feet felt like they were walking though quicksand but he still managed to make it to the Doctor's side.

"Looks like someone used it as a club," spoke the Doctor. Three nearby damaged drones seemed attest to this fact. The fact that the object in question seemed to be partially imbedded in yet another drone at their feet finalized it.

"Max!" Edison finally managed to say. He reached down and began pulling on the damaged news camera in an attempt to free it. "Max! Speak to me!" he shouted as he pulled on the news camera yet again. A power surge went through the camera as some of the drone's internal circuitry touched it.

"Wh-wh-what is it now, Edison-on-on?" came the familiar voice.

Edison jumped back. When his digitalized double, Max Headroom, had first came with them on this journey, the electronic imp had rode along inside Edison's news camera. Max's voice was not coming from the camera now, however.

"Max?"

"Yes-es. What is it-t-t already?" spoke the prone drone, who was looking at them.

"Oh, what an interesting development!" stated the Doctor happily. Edison hit the Doctor smartly on the shoulder than turned back to...Max?

"He-e-ey, when did I-I-I get all 3-D-D-D?" holding up his left arm so that he could examine it.

"Amazing!" remarked the Doctor. "In an attempt to preserve himself, Max must have leaped into the nearest compatible circuitry."

"I-I-I remember-er now!" spoke the drone with Max's familiar electronic stutter. "Th-th-that villain, Pudface – he picked-ed me up-up-up and used me-e-e as a-a club." The drone sat up and lifted the Channel 23 news camera off the body he inhabited. "I protest-tested but he-he just kept yelling-ing and hitting me-e against them." He pantomimed the motion of using the news camera as a club with his left hand, but instead of hitting anything it fell from his fingers. "Butter-f-f-fingers," Max commented to his hand.

"Better than what you could have done with your other 'hand'," commented the Doctor while bending down to examine the damage to the drone's body.

Max lifted up his other arm which had a large encumbering prosthesis attached to it. "What's this-s for-or?" he asked. A blast from the end of the appendage leapt past Edison's head and burned a hole through the branches of some of the nearby trees.

"Let's cover a few other things first, shall we?" the Doctor said as he motioned for Max to point the arm away from them. "I think that I have the answer for Max's continued existence here," spoke the time-lord. "Evidently, when Pudface was using the camera as a club, he had damaged some of the components the Borg use to interface their Borg Collective. Max, are there any other beings or memories in there with you?"

"It's all-ll-ll wide open-en spaces in-in here. You-you-you could put-ut the Grand Canyon-yon in here and-and-and have problems finding it-it."

"Hmm, that must mean that the damage erased the drone's collective memory as well. There must be a basic system running the most basic functions for now." He looked up at Max's eyes, one electronic, one organic. "It might prove dangerous, but are you willing to stay in there for now?"

Max looked down at the news camera. "I don't-n't really have-ve much choice-choice."

A sound alerted them as Leela came running into view. Quick explanations by the Doctor made her understand Max Headroom's new situation. "I was unable to retrieve Pudface," she said. After the battle, the leather-clad warrior had spotted Pudface running over a distant hill in an attempt to abandon them. In her anger she resolved to hunt him down. "Unfortunately, he lost me at a stream for a while. By the time I had found his trail again, it showed that a large number of people on horses were after him."

"You could tell that the horses were being ridden just by looking at their tracks?" Edison said, impressed.

"In my travels I have noted that horses being ridden leave a different type of trail and not as heavy. Besides, they had horseshoes on. That means someone cares for them."

"Sounds right to me," came a voice from behind Edison. Edison turned to see Kenny walking toward them, wiping his machete blade with a handful of dry grass.

"But you-you were dead!" exclaimed Edison. "I saw you!"

Kenny chuckled as he walked past Edison, staying clear of the active drone. Edison could clearly see the burn marks on the child's clothing, but the flesh underneath seemed to be unhurt. "Boy, these reporters sure are observant. Someone want to fill me in on what has happened while I was dead?"

The mule under Max jolted him as it progressed along the rocky riverbanks. He knew that the creature did this intentionally but chose to ignore it. To kick it or hit it would only aggravate the creature more. Personally, Max was rather grateful to the mule that bore him. It had managed to bite Jedediah twice, as well as step on his foot and kick him in the side. Max always appreciated animals that were good judges of character.

"'ey there," spoke up Jedediah, who was walking just ahead of Max. "We's got company."

Max tilted his hat up to look. He had been resting as much as he could after the earlier rough encounter and letting the others lead him to where they were going. He took out a bite of rabbit jerky from his pocket and bit into it while watching Pig Killer run up.

"Found something," he shouted to the men riding and walking with Max. The ex-cop winced. Some of the other men began pressing Pig Killer for news but he headed straight for Max. "You gotta see this!" he said excitedly.

"Quiet." Max spoke solemnly and every ear stained to hear him. "We are moving in enemy territory. If Apes don't know that we are coming already, they may now that you are shouting about."

Others also realized this and one of them cuffed Pig Killer to the side of the head. Others were about to join in when Max said, "Enough." _No wonder Aunty Entity wanted me to lead this group_, he thought. _They haven't got a brain to share amongst themselves._ "Show me what's got you so excited." He waved the other men to stay where they were. Auntie's men did as they were told. Some took watch positions to warn against Ape troops coming toward them, but most just sat on the ground where they fell.

Pig Killer led Max and Jedediah down an old path along an overgrowth area of the riverbed. "Down this way," Pig Killer said with a toothy grin. "You havn't seem somethin' by the likes of this before, I betcha!"

Max said nothing as he followed. The old pilot, Jedediah, had plenty to say but kept most of it at a low mutter. After a few moments they had wandered into a thicker growth of vegetation and were closer to the river. Presently, they came upon a man with his back towards them studying something while on his knees. He wore a vest made out of crocodile hide, and even had a hat made out of the material.

"This here's Crocodile Dundee," introduced Pig Killer. "He can track anything anywheres."

The man stood up and turned before Max could see what he had been examining so closely. "G'Day, mate. Name's Mikey Dundee. I inherited the name Crocidile Dundee by my dad. He was the first to have Crocodile Dundee moniker."

"Better name than some people have," Max said, not introducing himself. Jedediah laughed, and Pig Killer just blushed. "But people need to live and accept the names they've been given. Or change them later when they're older."

"Heh, I think I'll keep my name," Pig Killer chuckled. "I rather think I've been branded for life with it," he expressed, sticking out his exposed chest even more bearing the words 'Pig Killer' scrolled in red. "At least no one'll mistake me for someone else," he said, laughing at his own expense.

"What's this thing that we're suppose to be so impressed with?" Max asked, looking just past Dundee's shoulder and seeing a large reptile floating on the water's edge. "A dead croc?"

"Yeah," Dundee said. "But the interesting thing is how it died." Dundee stepped into the water to get close to the large reptile. As he pulled the dead floating carcass to the shore, it's head came to the surface. In it's jaws, the crocodile's grin revealed the dead body of a Baboon unlike any that they had ever saw before.

"Why's it covered in metal?" Jedediah asked.

"If it thought that the metal would protect him from the croc, then it was a bloomin' idiot," Pig Killer remarked.

"Nah. You got it all wrong," Dundee said. "Look at that stuff. She didn't place it on herself. It's been grafted to her body."

Max bent down to look at the Baboon body as the tracker brought it closer to shore. The gender wasn't that apparent to him but the creature was wet, covered in metal and entrapped in a crocodile's jaws; he wasn't going to touch either of the dead creatures but he didn't have to in order to tell that Dundee was right. What ever had been done to the Baboon must have involved surgery of some kind. The equipment looked very advanced and powerful, especially the long weapon-like thing that either replaced or encapsulated it's right arm. Somewhere on the Baboon's body must have been a power supply to run the machinery but evidently the crocodile had bit into it which electrocuted the watery predator.

"Baboons ain't smart enough to do that kind of work," Jedediah said in a shocked tone. "They just can't be."

Dundee ignored the pilot's comments, choosing instead to explain what he did know. "The way the tracks tell it, she was walking down this path from downstream. Right about where Pig Killer is standing was where the croc reached up, bit into her and pulled her into the water."

Pig Killer took a few steps back, swallowing thoughtfully. After pausing for a second he asked, "What tracks? I don't see any tracks?"

"That's because you're walkin' all over them," Dundee pointed out. "Slow but steady; She was very methodical in her walk. Didn't seem weak despite all the extra weight she carrie-."

"Her blood is whitish-gray," Max interrupted.

"I was wondering when you'd notice," grinned Dundee. They all looked down at the wounds caused by the crocodile's bite. Most of the blood had been washed away by the river but on the edges they could see faint traces of the white substance on the surface of the wound. "And that's not all," he shoved the head of the alligator more towards the shore, catching it on some rocks so that it wouldn't sink into the water. Reaching in back of him he pulled out a hunting knife with a foot long blade, then proceeded to cut open a vein and bring it up to the surface with some prying.

"Is that circuitry?" Jedediah said in amazement. "I ain't seem anybody able to use that stuff since the Big Electro Bomb messed 'em all up at the start of the Ape Rebellion."

"So maybe there are some scientists still experimenting on monkeys." Pig Killer glanced around the river bank. "Probably right near here."

"Whatever it is we still have a mission to do," Max said.

"I volunteer to take the monkey back for Aunty to look at," spoke up Jedediah.

Max grinned. "Naw, I want you with me, Jedediah. Pig Killer's taking this prize back to Aunty Entity."

"I am?" Pig Killer asked in surprise.

"You are." Max's tone made it final and no one disputed him. "Any other tracks like the one this creature made?" Max asked Dundee.

Dundee paused in his work. He had been using his knife to cut the muscles that kept the crocodile's mouth closed so that they could pull the Baboon out of it's grip. "Nah, but it's possible that it could have been a scout for a large party."

"Right." He scratched his chin briefly as he plotted possibilities in his head. "We'll go ahead. I'll send two fellas down with a mule to help Pig Killer with Aunty's present. Dundee, you can catch up with us after you are done here."

Dundee nodded as he resumed his work on the dead croc. Pig Killer stumbled into the water gingerly as he moved to help him.

Max hit Jedediah hard on the shoulder as he moved to leave. "Come on," Max commanded.

Jedediah grumbled quietly to himself, but glanced back at the dead Baboon that was only halfway visible in the water and wondered what had happened to the creature. He also wondered if it could be done to a Human.

Author's notes 

As you may have noticed I haven't been writing much lately. It's not been by choice. I've started a new career as a CNA working in a Alzheimer's facility and have started taking college classes this summer in order to become an Registered Nurse (Yes, I've done a lot of career changes.) I will also be taking an Anatomy and Physiology class starting in October so I will be trying to wrap up my story as quickly as possible by shortening it. I won't be able to write about all the other adventures on parallel Earths but I will write the final one where it all gets fixed and I explain how. At that time I will also give synopsis of what I had planned to use in those other worlds and who I had planned to bring in to fix the Borg problem. After ending this series I hope to eventually write some more shorter stories with different plots. I hate to say it but I'm getting tired bashing the Borg all the time even though I keep using new ways to do it. I've loved doing this series though and I'm glad to have had all you readers along as I explored and expanded my imagination.

I also would like to inform you that my wife (been married almost 2 years now) is pregnant and we are expecting in mid April. Also my birthday is September 7th so please send me some reviews. (My wife will correct all my grammar mistakes later, she just feels too nauseous right now.)

Oh, and the big beast that was approaching Spur as he was passing out was Bronx of the Gargoyles.

**Crocodile Dundee(1986)**

**Crocodile Dundee II(1988)**

**Crocodile Dundee In Los Angeles(2001)**

Michael J. 'Crocodile' Dundee – (Paul Hogan)

Mikey 'Crocodile' Dundee) – (Serge Cockburn)


	5. chapter 5

What's been happening so far...

The Borg have used Slider technology to spread themselves though many different parallel universes. The current universe that this story is about is centered of the planet Earth which has been taken over by Ape hybrids. With the downfall of civilization and most forms of technology, men such as the Road Warrior have had to survive deep in the wilderness fighting everyone and everything.

The time-lord known as the Doctor, along with his companions, the huntress Leela and the Immortal boy Kenny, had gone to another parallel universe in order to recruit Robocop to fight the drones. In addition to the cyborg police officer they were abruptly joined by news cameraman Edison Carter and his electronic brother Max Headroom. The fourth person in the group was actually a felon known as Pudface Morgan.

The self proclaimed all-powerful being known as Q had recruited aid in another parallel universe from a mutant lion man known as Vincent, who, thanks to time travel, was revealed to be related to Elisa Maza, a companion to the Gargoyles. The Gargoyles and Elisa had also been contacted through time and brought to fight the Borg.

Max has agreed to work for Aunty Entity to help her fight against the Apes and is currently leading a scouting party with Jedediah the pilot and the son of Crocodile Dundee.

As for the Apes, they pretty much want to crush everybody else down. But the Borg are a little out of their league. So on with the story.

Chapter 5 

He watched in horror as his fighters fell around him, all calling out to him for help, but he could not seem to move from where he stood. Spur looked up and saw Hawk, riding on the wings of a giant bird, reaching down to him. The Chimpanzee raised his arms to reach for the hand of the young Gorilla but was unable to make contact. The large bird that Hawk rode on flew away into the distance heedless of the frantic behavior of its rider.

Glancing down again, Spur was disturbed to see that his troops of Ape warriors had all turned into skeletons and were slowly sinking beneath the sands. Approaching him were the Baboons and Humans that wore the strange metal battle suits. He whipped out a knife at them but they didn't seem to heed the danger it presented.

"Never win," spoke up a large Baboon who Spur recognized as the Baboon chieftain. Only now the leader of the Baboons was wearing a metallic robe, had large metal hooks for hands and a strange red light shone from out of his eyes. "Make you like us," continued the chieftain as reached out a hook past Spur's guard, catching him painfully in his hand, causing him to drop his knife. The Chimpanzee pulled to free his hand to no avail; the hooks that had replaced the chieftain's hands pierced his hand like a fishhook and held him fast. The others approached him at a slow gait while holding out pieces of metal that he instinctively knew they were going to make a part of him.

"No! No! Noooooo!" he shrieked as he sat up.

"Easy now," spoke a voice. "The bones in your chest are not entirely healed. Try not to breath so hard."

Spur eyes cleared and saw a balding Caucasian Human male in a black uniform-like outfit with blue shoulders. Instinctively, the Chimpanzee reached down to his belt, drew his knife and stabbed it into the man's rib cage so that it would penetrate the right lung.

The man frowned. "That's not very nice."

Spur reached up with his other hand and attempted to crush the man's larynx in case he attempted to summon help from any other nearby Humans.

"Although the swelling in your hand has gone down, the tissue damage will take a while to regenerate. You will find that using your hand to be quite painful for a while, but I believe you will regain most of it's strength within a week or two. Normally I could do more for you but in these primitive conditions..." he sighed.

Something was wrong. The man should be dead or at least in great pain, but he seemed to ignore all of the Chimpanzee's efforts to kill him. Spur let go and lay back down in defeat. Was this just another dream or something worse? He aching head tried to resolve the situation as he watched the Human casually remove the knife sticking out of his chest. He also noticed one other thing. There was no blood on the knife.

"If I had not been a hologram that would have been very painful – not to mention lethal."

"He's awake?" called out a voice from a little ways away.

"I'll say he is," commented the holographic man. "And he's not a very pleasant person to wake up." He glanced over at the young Chimpanzee/Human hybrid and then at the knife in his hand. "And they say that I have a horrible bedside manner," he mumbled under his breath.

Spur closed his eyes for a moment, trying to regain his focus and establish what was real. All he could focus on, however, was the red filtered light that was trying to tear its was through his eyelids. He could hear others coming close so against his better his better judgment he opened his eyes yet again. What he saw made him sure that he had made a mistake.

Five Humans – three male and two female – were approaching him with Hawk at their side. These were not the downcast, hairy, ragged Humans that the Apes kept as slaves, nor were the hard, determined, smelly Humans that fought so hard against the Apes. These were something else. They were so clean they practically sparkled. Their clothes were strange, yet designed and immaculate. Their hair was also well groomed and trim. They resembled some of the pictures of mankind that he had found that had been from before the Ape uprising.

What he saw behind the Humans startled him even more. Four figures were behind the Humans – three male and one female – and none of the four appeared to be Human.

The one on the left appeared to be part lion from the feline features of his face and the mane around his head. From a distance Ogre had once shown Spur a small pride of lions that had been released from the Sydney Zoo and now lived near the hills south of the city. He had found the creatures very impressive – especially after seeing them pounce on a wandering Baboon and tear it apart. The middle male wore similar attire as the Human male who had woken him but seemed larger than a Human should be. The man's face had a strange-ridged pattern that reminded Spur of the shell of a horseshoe crab that he had once caught as a child. It was the last two beings that told Spur that these creatures had to be more than Human. They were male and female, both were gray and had clawed hands. They also had tails.

"Spur! Spur! You won't believe all of what has been going on! Spur?" The young Gorilla knelt next to his leader. "Is he all right?" Hawk asked, looking up at the Doctor.

"He will suffer some from a headache for a while along with a little nausea but he should be able to communicate with us." The doctor handed the Chimpanzee's knife over to Worf who took it with a look of disdain. "His arm will be sore for the next couple of hours. It will take that long for the medicine I've administered to cleanse his system of the snake's venom and aid the tissue regeneration. As for his broken ribs, I've mended them and they should be fine, though he will be sore for a few days and I do not recommend much heavy lifting for about a week."

Hawk thanked the man profusely for healing Spur, making Spur, who was listening, think even more that he must be suffering from a fevered dream. Did that mean that the troop of Apes under his command hadn't been taken out by a group of metallic Baboons and Humans? Were the strange creatures that had just approached him real? Had a Human just helped him, one of the enemy? A Human that didn't bleed?

He fought to open his eyes and confront himself with the truth of the situation, whatever that may be. Ignoring everything else he grabbed hold of Hawk with his good hand and squeezed hard so that the young Gorilla had to give him his attention. What followed after that was Hawk recounting what he knew of the people with him, that they had come from far off and banded together in order to stop the spread of the ones called the Borg, who had a means of taking over other peoples bodies and using them for the Borg's own purposes.

He sat back and assimilated this information. According to these newcomers his troop of Gorillas would not have been killed, but made slaves to the ones called the Borg. He tried to imagine what Ogre would have him do. Most likely, it would have involved killing or enslaving the Humans while also trying to befriend the other bizarre creatures. But this would not be feasible since the Humans and the other creatures seemed very friendly with each other. The one called Elisa was even holding hands in an affectionate manner with the large creature called Goliath. The one called Worf wore similar attire to three of the Humans, and Spur thought he could smell his unusual smell on one of the Human females, who also did not smell completely Human.

Spur felt certain he knew how these new Human hybrids came to be. Ogre had told him once of a time when he had been a young Gorilla that had helped take over an underground laboratory. While they had killed most of the scientists, they had kept a few alive to explain things. The apes had become curious at some of the startling discoveries that they had found; especially the biological experiments that were being conducted. A lab assistant with a broken arm was coerced into reading a number of documents for the apes, one of which was a history of a previous experimental facility on an island where their experiments on baboon and Human DNA had been the facilities destruction. Some of those DNA techniques were later used in creating the Gorillas, Chimpanzees, Orangutans and Baboons that were to be mankinds slaves. Though Ogre said that they had killed all the hybrid creatures there, some must have escaped or come from another facility.

Spur knew he was going to have to befriend these newcomers that had saved him, even the Humans, in order to win their trust and learn their secrets. The thought of being around the Humans sickened him. But he would have to for now; at least until they encountered Ogre. The female named Deanna frowned at him, which caught his attention, she then whispered in the ear of the one who was called Worf. He nodded in secret agreement. Spur felt that they would bear watching. Or perhaps they thought that they were going to be watching over him?

Edison Carter wiped his sweaty brow with his sleeve as he followed after the enigmatic figure that he knew only as under the title of the Doctor. The strange curly haired man seemed to not feel the heat of the day as they traveled even though he wore a heavy coat with a long scarf. The female huntress seemed much better equipped to hand the hot environment in her leather gear. Even the strange boy, Kenny, who was not dead even though Edison was sure that he had been, seemed very adapt to the region.

Passing an old forgotten mailbox Edison reached out a hand to steady himself while stepping over a large broken piece of sidewalk. Instinctively, he pulled his hand back and shook it painfully.

"Something wrong?" asked the Doctor.

"I was just stupid. That mailbox had been in the sun for a good part of the day. So of course it was hot. I just hadn't thought of..." A look of concern crossed his features and he looked back at their two slower moving comrades. "Max?"

"Ye-es-es-es?" spoke up the Borg drone that was currently housing the computerized entity known as Max Headroom. The face of the drone was that of a very pale Human male but the mannerisms were all Max Headroom. In order to tell Max apart from any other drones that they met Leela decorated Max with a variety of wild orchids that grew nearby which he was very grateful for since he had never been able to smell anything before.

"Max, how are you feeling? I mean, are you feeling hot or warm?"

Max stopped at the mailbox to consider this. "I don't-n't think-ink so. But then-en I've never been-en warm or hot-t-t before so-so how can I-I-I tell?"

That stumped Edison. How do you describe hot or cold to someone who has never experienced them before? "Do any of your metal parts feel uncomfortable next to your skin parts?"

The drone appeared to be considering this. "No-o-o."

"You needn't worry, Mr. Carter," spoke up the Doctor. "The Borg design the drones so that they can survive in a myriad of hostile environments, including the vacuum of space for a time. The summer climate of Australia is of no concern for them."

"What about Robocop?" Edison inquired, referring to the cyborg cop that was following at the end of their train. "Won't he be heating up in the sun now that we have left the cover of the trees?"

"He would have," agreed the Doctor. "But I added a few things to him from those drones that we defeated, one of which was ... well, I believe the simplest thing to call it would be an internal temperature control."

Edison merely grunted in acknowledgement of this answer. The Doctor was reminding him all too much of Bryce, the resident teen- super genius at Network 23 that helped him from time to time. Though he was pretty sure that this Doctor would give Bryce a run his money in the brains department. "How much further is it to this other team?"

The Doctor searched his pockets for a moment before pulling up a flat metal object, flipped open a screen, glanced at it for a second, and then slipped it back in his pocket. "Should be just over that way about a kilometer."

"A kilometer?"

The Doctor sighed. "About a mile." Then he tapped the Starfleet badge on his coat. "The Doctor to Worf."

"Worf here, Doctor. What is your situation?" In the background someone could be heard complaining that he was called the Doctor and that I wasn't right for someone else to be calling themselves the Doctor because that would lead to confusion.

The Doctor smiled. "We should be with you shortly. I should warn you however that one of my group is a cyborg. Another member has...appropriated a Borg drone to inhabit."

The Doctor waited as Worf considered this. "Are you sure this...person...has not been compromised?"

Max raised his hand up in an 'okay' hand gesture. "Positively," said the Doctor. "The Borg would not be able to duplicate his personality."

Max was about to protest but Edison signaled him to be quiet. Glumly, Max consented.

"You should be aware that one of our...'allies'...may be encountering you soon," spoke Worf.

"Hi, this is Elisa," spoke a new female voice from the Starfleet pin. "Broots is very inquisitive, but he won't harm anyone...as long as no one tries pointing any weapons at him. That kind of behavior really ticks him off."

"And what type of creature is this 'Broots'?" asked the Doctor.

"A type of canine. Only gray. And a lot bigger."

"Ah, I see." Edison tapped him on the shoulder and then pointed up at something coming over the hill. "Oh, I think he's found us." Edison then pointed to Kenny and Leela who were ahead of them and preparing to fight the Gargoyle dog. "I have to go now. See you soon," he said hurriedly. He tapped the communication pin off

Ogre sipped the lukewarm water from his flask. It had been an interesting late afternoon sport of running down the lone man and then torturing him on a large boulder, which was hot from the sun. The man was very large and much more savage than any other that he had encountered; the man had actually bitten one of his Gorillas after they had captured him.

The torture had been very frustrating as the man was unusually stubborn, but he gave up in the end as they all did. What angered Ogre was the man's story. Did he really think that the Apes were so ignorant that they thought of the planet's continents as 'other worlds'. Still the man had traveled here from somewhere else. The very fact that the man was in such good health and well fed gave credence to that part of his story.

The direction that he indicated where his transport was located was inland, however, so that meant this man and his fellow Humans had not come by the ocean. A surge of hope leapt within the Ape. He had wanted a working airplane even more than he had wanted a working automobile. This TARDIS the prisoner talked of must be a plane

Ogre grinned as he worked this information out in his thoughts. Perhaps he could even travel to one of the other continents like Asia, Africa, or Antarctica and rally the Apes there to more attacks against Humans. The Ape Council would have to admit his greatness then. Perhaps even make him ruler over all-

He shook himself. He hated getting caught up in his daydreams. Even though he found them very amusing, he had to function in reality. He would have to take things one at a time. First he had to confirm the existence of this TARDIS and its ability to transport them. He stopped to mull over a worrisome thought. If Humans were rebuilding their technology, something that the Apes hadn't yet been able to do, then he would have to make sure that they were stopped. Apes ruled the world now. And he would do whatever he had to in order to ensure that they always would.

He walked over to the prisoner and gave an order for the man's wrist to be untied. Pudface groaned as he slid off the rock.

"Get up, Human!" he commanded.

Pudface looked up from his one good eye, not understanding.

"You're talking us on a little trip." Ogre laughed menacingly. The other Gorillas joined in as they began packing their horses.

The Road Warrior kept low in an old church steeple. Using an old telescope that someone had once bought for one of their kids to pick up a hobby and then had been promptly buried in a closet, until Jedediah had come across it, Max was able to make out a lot of activity near the harbor. He attempted to adjust the lens, and then slapped Jedediah's hands when he tried to help. Finally he was able to see that there was new construction being undertaken near the river's edge.

He had been very surprised to see men, women and children wearing the same material that they had found on the dead Baboon they had discovered earlier. Even the metal parts that had been grafted to the Baboon appeared to have been attached to them. He was not as surprised when he noticed that a large number of Baboons had also undergone this transformation.

"Their building something," Max said. "It's cube shaped."

"That's crazy, that is! That's right in Baboon territory!"

"Yeah, the monkeys don't seem that happy to see them." As he watched Baboons in nearby buildings were throwing bits of metal, bricks, old bones and very fresh fesses at the metal-covered intruders, including those that were Baboons.

Retaliation was swift. Those sporting the metal gear turned seemingly almost as one and then fired beams of light at the transgressors. Many were hit. Some slumped to the floor where they were, others fell down to the ground.

"Bloody-"

"Shh!" Max held up a hand for Jedediah to be silent.

The metallic Humans and Baboons walked among those that had fallen to their assault. Long, thin needles appeared out of their wrists and they were used to stab those that had fallen. Max had assumed they were killing those that still lived, as those stabbed seemed to contort in pain. After a few moments though, the Baboons stood up slowly and were led slowly away. Other metallic Baboons could be seen doing similar treatment to those on the higher levels.

"That's like right out of some old horror movie I saw as a kid, that is!" the old pilot said. "'Night of the bleeding dead' or something like that. Zombie movies is what they were and I think that's what these things is."

"Wrong movie," Max said, as he continued watching. "It's more like Frankenstein."

"What chu talkin' about?"

"These things, they aren't dead. That Baboon in the croc's mouth, that was dead. You can't kill something that's already dead. But you can take something living and put parts on it that weren't meant to be there. Some of those parts could even be used to control you."

Jedediah looked uncertain. "Is that even possible?"

Max glanced back at him. "Take a look in this telescope and tell me it's not possible."

The pilot paused for a second then went to look. Max heard someone coming up the ladder and pulled out a knife in each hand. Fortunately, it was just Crocodile Dundee who had finally caught up with them.

Dundee grinned as he came over to take a look at the view from the steeple. "Sorry I took so long. Saw some unusual tracks and followed them a ways. Met some interestin' fellas. I think you should met 'em." He paused. "What'd I miss?"

Author's Notes 

Thanks to Superfan. I've included mention to the movie Primal Force (1999) which is about a guide (Ron Perlman) who is hired to lead a rescue party to a plane crash on a Mexican island that is populated by mutant Baboons that have been genetically altered.

For those that don't know, Ron Perlman has also played Vincent on Beauty and the Beast. One of Ron's most recent movies was Hellboy were he played the star.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 

Leading the group, Mikey Dundee pushed on into the clearing leading up to on old highway. The disgruntled Max followed after, letting go of a passing tree branch he had pushed away as he passed, and received a painful cry behind him from Jedediah as a reward. The ten men following them chuckled quietly amongst themselves and avoided getting the same treatment from the unliked pilot.

"Here, see this," Dundee said, pointing to some large deep footprints in the dirt. The others gathered around; Max pushed Jedediah out of the way of the light from the sun so they could all get a good look at the tracks compressed in the dirt.

"What makes such a stamp with their feet?" Jedediah managed to ask, while gasping in amazement at the size and depth of the footprints. He placed one of his feet next to the print and whistled in awe.

"Something that you don't ever want to fight against," Dundee said. "Note the length of the talons on the toes."

"All the better to rip your guts out," deadpanned Max. "Is there a reason for this zoology lesson or do you think we need to take a break before meeting these allies you found?"

"There's a reason," Dundee stated. "If you look here you can see where the creature makes leaps and bounds."

Someone whistled in the back. "Bloody hell, creature has to be as big as a bull. Even a razorback can't get big enough to leave tracks like those. And yet leaps around like a cat or dog."

"More like a big dog. Bigger than any that you've ever encountered before," commented Dundee. "And over here," he pushed Jedediah back from the tracks he was about to step all over. "Here is something similar yet a little different. Can you tell me what it is?"

Kneeling, Max studied the new tracks. He was frustrated with Dundee for not just telling what ever it was he was leading up to but figured that the tracker must have a good reason. "They're not as round. The feet are more extended, more like ours than any of the monkeys…but with similar claws to the ones that you just showed us."

"Anything else?" asked Dundee.

"Doesn't jump around as much as the other tracks do," added one of Aunty Entity's cronies.

"Correct," Dundee said, approvingly.

"Heavier. It's got deeper tracks," Jedediah pointed out.

"Wrong. It's not heavier than the other creature. Anyone tell me why? Scan the tracks and see if you can tell from the pattern."

"But it's set into the earth deeper. It's got to be heavier."

Max's eyes got big as he realized the answer. "It's as heavy as the creature," he said. "But these are deeper because this thing is walking on two legs."

Dundee nodded in agreement, causing the men to look nervously around the surrounding area while their hands all reached for weapons that they wore on their person.

"Relax," Dundee said. "There is nothing to worry about. These tracks belong to some of the new allies I'm taking you to. They're called Gargoyles."

Max jumped to his feet, and got close to Dundee before any of Aunty's men could. "Explain fast. No more guessing games."

"Easy, mate! This is a twist that you are goin' to like."

Max was skeptical, but listened as the son of the famous crocodile hunter talked.

Groaning as he searched the area for the third time, Pudface Morgan knew that his troubles had just compounded. He looked up at his guards. Large black-haired Gorillas riding big, sweaty horses circled him slowly ten to fifteen feet away watched him carefully as they exchanged low grunted comments to each other. The largest rider, Ogre, climbed off his horse, leaving one of his horse soldiers to tend to his beast while he approached the weary captive.

"What is the delay?" barked Ogre.

Morgan thought briefly of lying, knowing that the ape-man would not like the truth, but realized that he would only be delaying the inevitable and possible incurring more of Ogre's wrath if he drew it out any longer than necessary. "This is it. This is the place where the TARDIS landed."

Ogre glanced around. "I do not see this TARDIS you talked of." He frowned, allowing his large canine teeth to show. His right hand reached for a long dark whip that was lashed to his belt.

"No! It was here! It really was here! The TARDIS must have left or been moved by somebody!" He fell back, tripping over an old, dried-up tree branch in his haste to back away from his tormenter. Lying on the ground, he raised his hands to block the worst of the blows from the whip from his face. Not that he had anything resembling a handsome face, it was still his.

It was as Ogre was uncoiling his whip that one of his soldiers called for his attention to something that some of the other Ape soldiers were examining on the ground.

Ogre gave Morgan a snort of disgust before turning his back on the shaking Human. William Ray 'Pudface' Morgan tried to compose himself as he laid there in the dirt on a world that was so similar to his and yet so different. Here, he had been taken prisoner by guerilla fighters that were truly gorillas. On his world, he was one of the baddest of the bad and definitely one of the most wanted felons in history. Sure, Robocop would bash him about while trying to apprehend him. That was basically what he expected from anyone trying to arrest him because he would definitely be resisting arrest. But these ape creatures had brutally tortured him in order to find out what he knew. That was something he did to others; not something that happened to him.

Glancing over at the gathered group of apes, he noticed that they were almost all in a small group clearing some rocks away on the ground. One of the younger Gorillas stood a little ways between Morgan and the group of Gorillas with his back to the fallen man. Pudface grabbed a nearby rock in his hand and considered his chances of braining the man-beast and trying to use it's rifle on the others. He knew almost instantly that he could not implement his plan in his current condition. His legs felt rubbery underneath him already and he wasn't even standing. He tossed the rock aside, regrettably.

Glancing back at the group of simian/Human hybrids, he watched as the leader of the militant Gorilla-men leaned down and traced something in the rocky ground that the apes had cleared. Suddenly, Ogre's eyes snapped up and turned to ensnare Morgan gaze. "Bring him," he snapped.

Two of the large ape-men, one of which happened to be the very one Morgan had contemplated bonking with a rock, rushed over towards him in obedience.

'Pudface' Morgan tried to flee but could not climb to his feet fast enough before they were on him. They did not take any extra time to inflict any pain on him, instead each Ape soldier grabbed one of his arms and hurriedly dragged him over to where Ogre was still kneeling.

"Explain this!" he barked. He pointed down to the ground in front of him. One of the guards shoved him down forcibly; if Morgan had found some type of weapon at hand just then he would have used it regardless of the consequences. But nothing was available so he just clenched his teeth and looked down.

The Gorillas had cleared many of the small rocks and even some of the dirt in order to reveal a large square indentation in the ground. Upon closer inspection, Pudface could see rocks and roots still embedded in the ground along the edge and bottom of the indentation were sheared off to a fine, flat edge as if it had been made with a laser beam.

"This is were the TARSIS was!" Morgan exclaimed. "It was here! Somebody must have moved it and then buried the indentation where it materialized."

None of the gun-bearing Gorillas were paying him any attention. In fact, though he was still encircled by them, the Apes were now facing outwards from the circle that entrapped him, with their weapons up and ready to fire on anything that moved.

It took him a moment to realize that it had to do with something that he had said. Somebody had moved the TARDIS and then tried to cover up the fact that it was there by burying the rather distinctive square notch it had formed in the hard rocky soil. If someone was willing to go to such lengths to steal the TARDIS and hide that fact, then they might be willing to attack and defend it. At least the Gorillas appeared to think so.

Ogre signaled some of his Apes to spread out and search for signs of anything out of the ordinary while others stayed and provided cover with their weapons. Ogre's weapon, however, was trained on Morgan's skull. Pudface had had enough. "If you're going to shoot, then shoot already."

Ogre sneered, a ugly look with his simian features. "You seem to have proven your worth. You may still be worth something yet."

"I'll not help you anymore, regardless of what you do to me, unless you give your word in front of your men that you will let me free when this is over." There. He had gotten the nerve to say it. Two of the other Gorillas nearby turned back to look at him with looks of disbelief that this Human was making any demands of Ogre.

Ogre lowered his weapon, but bent down, grabbing the large Human by the nap of his neck in one of his large ape hands, pulling him painfully up level to himself. Pudface felt the putrid breath of the large, cruel being on his breath, but made no move to cower. This was his stand, even if his legs were dangling a few inches of the ground.

A smile crossed the Guerilla leader's rough features. "Finally, a Human with some backbone. Very well. If we find this TARDIS and someone who can pilot it, then you will be set free." He let Morgan go, and the Human fell down hard onto the slight indentation left by the TARDIS.

_Yeah_, thought Pudface in disbelief, _I'll buy that for a dollar_.

The Gorillas ignored him after that, as they began searching for some signs of how the TARDIS was moved and in which direction. A half full canteen had been left for him and the tired, beaten criminal drank greedily from it, pausing only briefly for gasps of air. He was going to have to keep his wits sharp, and he was going to need all the strength he could muster. Because if he slipped up now, he was going to die as a stranger in a strange land, and probably under very unforgivable circumstances.

They had set up camp at a large hill with what remained of a tunnel for an old two-lane highway running partway through it. The tunnel entrance on the hill's far side had been closed off due to a landslide during an overly rainy spring and no maintenance upkeep on the tunnels. This left the group with a very large cave-like setting that everyone could easily fit in after the Starfleet medical program and the lounge singer, both holograms, cleared out all the poisonous snakes. Worf and Deanna had used their phasers on a scattered wide spectrum to clear the tunnel of spiders and webs so that they could inhabit it without worry of being poisoned. Before long everyone they were expecting arrived and Worf set about taking charge and assigning people duties.

Reginald Barclay scratched nervously at his neck, while trying to take some deep calming breaths.

"You can do this, Reg," Deanna said, trying to sound supportive.

"But I've never done anything like this before," Reg said in a low voice, afraid someone might overhear them. Looking out at the small clearing were ten very rugged men that Mikey 'Crocodile' Dundee had brought in were waiting somewhat impatiently for him. Also waiting away from the men was the twentieth century police detective Elisa Maza, the companion of the Gargoyles, and her newly discovered time-tossed nephew, Vincent, a large humanoid with a lion-like visage. There was also the young Gorilla soldier, Hawk, a sworn genetic enemy of the Human men.

Off to Reg's left stood the news reporter, Edison Carter, using a borrowed Starfleet recorder on which he had been hastily trained so the data feeds could be viewed and studied later.

Reg swallowed nervously. He started to turn away but Deanna was blocking him. "Reg." Her eyes chastised him gently.

"It's just that Commander Worf would be able to do a much better job than me."

"He just wants you to introduce them to the whole subject. He will conclude their training after his meeting with the others." The others meeting with Worf were those that the Klingon selected for their obvious positions in leadership: Aunty Entity's henchman Max, the time lord known only as the Doctor, the anger filled Chimpanzee/Human soldier named Spur, the large Gargoyle appropriately called Goliath, and the huntsman, Mikey 'Crocodile' Dundee.

"But I don't see the point of having me. I mean really, me, train them in fighting?" One of the men happened to be trimming his fingernails with a knife blade longer than his forearm, increasing Reg's apprehension.

"Reg, Worf believes you can. He would not have asked you otherwise." She stepped closer into his personal space knowing that it would make him a little uneasy but would force him to focus on what she was saying. "Just act as if you were doing a holodeck simulation."

Barclay frowned at this. "I believe the safeties are offline in this holodeck environment," he commented with a slightly snide tone.

"So what?" she answered. "It's not as if you are ignorant about the subject. I've seen all the time you logged in about these sorts of things when you were on the Enterprise. You are more of an expert than you wish to admit."

Reg nodded half-heartedly. "But…"

"Let's begin," Deanna said loudly, spinning Lt. Barclay around by his shoulders and giving him a shove towards his audience.

"Ah, yes, ahem." Reg glanced up at all the eyes on him. He wanted to bolt for the tunnel in the hill. However, he knew that was not a way to escape, particularly since that was where Worf was currently holding another meeting. No, he'd have to face this on his own. "As you have been informed, your two species are being targeted for use as drones by a invader called the Borg. The best means we have of overcoming them is by uniting together in order to…" he glanced from the young Gorilla, Hawk, then over toward the group of rough looking Humans who were sitting away from each other. "In order to…"

"I ain't fightin' on the side of a monkey!" shouted a filthy looking figure. Reg remembered him being introduced as Jedediah.

Others of the group of men made similar proclamations, using much more coarse, creative language. Some, like Jedediah, were getting to their feet with the intent to prove their dislike of the young Gorilla with their fists.

Reg quickly placed himself between the men and the hybrid Gorilla. "Then you will all die!" yelled Reg, in an attempt to bring them back to their current circumstance.

Jedediah stepped up to Reg, bristling with anger. "You can't trust the monkeys," he said venomously. "They don't know their place and they'll turn on you as soon as they think you trust them."

Reg was at first worried that he'd have to try keep the man and Gorilla from tearing each other apart, but he noticed that the Gorilla, Hawk, had not moved from where he sat or shown any offense at the men's statements.

A glance back at Deanna showed that she had chosen to leave this up to him to resolve. But Reg also noticed a curious look in her eye as she regarded Hawk. The large lion-man looked ready to help, but his female companion, Elisa, had a restraining hand on his shoulder. Even the newsman, Edison Carter, seemed content to simply film the conflict.

_Fine_, Reg thought, _I'll handle it myself_. "Sir, if you would just…"

Jedediah swung a fist at him.

Barclay reflexively ducked and swung, delivering a hard blow to Jedediah's abdomen. This he followed by an uppercut to the chin, leaving the former pilot gasping in pain in the dirt. Two of the men tried to grab the Starfleet officer from behind but Reg twisted with a maneuver he had learned from one of Worf's holographic defense-training courses. After the pair hit the ground, no one else stepped up to challenge the skinny, awkward man in the strange-looking spandex clothing. Reg stood in amazement at what he had done.

"Isn't that just great? I fix them up and you tear them down," came the sarcastic remark from the Voyager's holographic medical program, just returning with one of Aunty Entity's men. The medical program was making use of an old, beat up recreational vehicle as a makeshift sickbay. It had apparently broken down on the side of the road many years before and would never move again, as was evident by its lack of tires and engine.

"Is everything all right, Doctor?" Deanna asked, pleased for the distraction.

Worf had accepted the holo-doctor's proposal to provide the men from this world's medical treatments, making them more effective when facing the Borg. Theoretically, it would also give them a greater appreciation for those trying to be their allies. "Fine," Doctor patted the very happy man that he had returned with on the back. "I repaired three abscessed teeth and five minor cavities, corrected his arthritic knee, restored total hearing to his left ear and 20/20 vision in both eyes, mended a partial hernia, removed two strands of intestinal parasites, hemorrhoids and eight planters warts, and cured him of hepatitis A and syphilis. I can't wait to see what ailments the rest of them have to offer." The holographic doctor was beside himself with glee. While horrified at the medical conditions everyone here seemed to put up with in this land that seemed to have forgotten about medicine and hygiene, he was very much in demand and appreciated. The other men, forgetting about their hatred of the Gorilla in their midst, congregated around their returned companion to check on his condition themselves. "Who wants to be next?" asked the Doctor.

Reg held out a hand to Jedediah in order to help him up and hopefully smooth over hard feelings. The pilot glared and got up on his own. Reg was about to try a different overture of befriending the man by suggesting Jedediah to be the Doctor's next patient, but someone else had already volunteered. As the hologram and his rugged volunteer left to begin another round of medical miracles, Reg decided to start his training exercise again.

"All right, people, let's try this once more." He waited, giving them a few moments to settle down.

"What, so you can show us how to fight?" Jedediah commented harshly. "I think we already know how to fight or we wouldn't have survived as long as we have with all the monkeys hunting us wherever we go." Most of the men began shouting agreement, but Reg did spot a few waiting to hear what he was would say.

Reg raised his hand to get their attention, refusing to shout over them. "I'm going to introduce you to what your new enemy, the Borg, can do. I'm been commanded to show you how the Borg fight," explained the Starfleet lieutenant. "Commander Worf will be the one that instructs you in fighting measures against them."

"So another 'creature-man' is going to show us men how to fight?" Jedediah shouted, seeking to raise the ire of the other men.

"He's not a, uh, creature-man, as you call them. And please don't say that around Commander Worf. It could take quite a bit of time for the doctor to repair you if you did." Reg plunged on before Jedediah could add anything. "Worf is an alien to our planet. He's a Klingon. Klingons are a fierce, proud people. If one of their people chooses to show you how to fight, you should be honored." He let that thought sink in.

Jedediah blew a raspberry. "What a bunch a bat guano! Everybody knows there's no such thing as aliens."

"Then you'd all be wrong." Deanna's quiet voice stilled the crude men; Hawk looked up at her, seeming to have finally found something of interest in this gathering. "My father was Ian Troi, a Human. He was a Starfleet officer. He died when I was seven. My mother is an ambassador for the planet Betazed. Through her I am a daughter of the Fifth House, Holder of the Sacred Chalice of Rixx, Heir to the Holy Rings of Betazed. And I hold both sides of my ancestry in equal respect."

"If you're really an alien…" one of the men commented. "Then why don't you have antennas, scales or tentacles?" Some of the other men laughed. "You don't seem to have a tail, either, as far as we can tell."

More laughs came and Deanna just smiled and retorted. "While I myself do not have any of those features, my third date while attending Starfleet academy had a tail and scales. I do admit to having tended to shy away from those males that have tentacles because while growing up of a nanny I had who had tentacles that she used to spank with. Those things hurt, but she did get my to mind her while no other person could."

"You-you dated someone that wasn't Human?" asked an appalled, filthy man with a horned helmet.

"Not as many as my mother has," she stated. "But, I have gone out with a few non-Humans or non-Betazoids. In fact, I recently restarted a relationship with Commander Worf."

Every man froze. Interspecies relationships were just not done here. Humans were for Humans, Chimpanzees were for Chimpanzees, Gorillas were for Gorillas, Orangutans were for Orangutans, even Baboons were strictly for Baboons. While the men had a definitive hatred toward the Hybrids – the Gorillas, Chimpanzees, Orangutans and Baboons – they had not been able to take into account these new humanoids. When Mikey Dundee had brought them here to meet with some strange new allies, they had come upon a 'friendly fighting competition' between Commander Worf and the winged Gargoyle known as Goliath. The savagery with which they fought caused the men's blood to run cold. While Goliath was a stronger opponent, Worf had superior fighting techniques that made them pretty well matched. The fight ended as soon as the newcomers had made themselves known, but every one of the men made sure not to incur the anger of Goliath or Commander Worf. And right now every single one of those men were wondering what the angered Klingon might do to them if they were to comment on 'social impiety'. They decided to remain silent and keep their prejudices to themselves.

"But if you are an alien… why do you look so Human," commented Elisa Maza. "You do not seem to have any alien features like Commander Worf has."

Deanna smiled. "You'd be surprised at the number of alien species that I have encountered that look mostly or totally Human – at least on the outside."

"Do any of them Human aliens have different colored skin, like green or purple?" asked one of Aunty Entity's coarse men. "Cause I'd pay to see that."

"Green, red, blue, black and white. I've seen practically every color you can imagine used for hair or skin tone."

"What about special powers," threw in Jedediah. "Ain't aliens supposed to have special powers?"

"Most aliens do not have what you would consider 'powers'." Deanna smiled. "But I, myself, do have special powers."

The men were silenced, not sure of what to make of this woman in the tight spandex uniform. They had learned that it was dangerous to assume that an attractive woman could not have a devious and cunning a mind as any man; Aunty Entity had taught them that.

"Betazoids are telepathic. Mind readers, if you will. But since I am only half Betazoid, I only have empathic abilities."

"What does empathic mean?" asked Hawk, respectively. Some of the men scowled at the young Gorilla for speaking, but they were all wondering the same thing themselves.

"It means that I can sense a person's emotions even from a great distance away."

"Bah!" Jedediah stated. "That not real powers!"

Lt. Barclay stepped forward. "Yes, it is. Counselor Troi's empathic abilities have been very useful on numerous missions. She has…" Troi held up a hand for him to stop.

"You doubt my abilities?" she said casually.

"In a word: yeah," the pilot stated, looking around for anyone to contradict him.

"Then you won't mind if I prove them to you?"

Hawk leaned forward studying her intently. Vincent and Elisa stopped their quiet conversation. They could tell something important was about to happen. Jedediah nodded. "Sure, I'm up for a laugh."

"No, you are not. I doubt if you have had a good laugh in a long time." She studied him from where she stood. His demeanor changed into uncertainty as she continued to scrutinize him. "Hatred fills your being and it makes you want to lash out." She had his attention now. "And the focus of your anger is the Gorilla, Hawk, and those like him."

"Bah, that's nothin'! We all hate the monkeys! Every one of us!"

Deanna shook her head. "Not like you do. Your hated is intense, while theirs is mild. Yours is a hatred that will consume you if you do not put it out."

"You don't know me, lady, or what I've been through! I didn't get all pissy when the monkeys took over the fertile coasts and pushed mankind into the deserts. It was out there that I run into my wife and glad I am that I met her. The Road Warrior, he helped us get away with our lives. She and I only had a few years together before she got bit by that snake. I almost died that night of grief. But we had had a child, Jedediah Jr. I wasn't about to leave him without both of his kin. Then one day the Road Warrior was back again and I had to fly Jed, Pig Killer, meself and a buncha kids away from those that was trying to get 'em. The kids was led by a young girl who had me fly to the cities of all places. They had heard about the cities from the stories they had been told by the parents that had abandoned them. The kids wanted to live there and fix 'em up so that other people would come back and…" He stopped. "It was the Gorillas, Orangutans and Chimpanzees that came. I managed to flee, but Jed Jr., he was hauled off to their slave camps." He sighed. "I hung around on my own for quite a while trying to find a way in to get him free. Eventually, Aunty Entity found me and here we are. Happy?"

This last part was quite bitter, but Deanna didn't let it faze her. "Satisfied," she stated. "It may surprise you to know that the young Gorilla over there has no malice towards you, just sympathy."

Heads turned to Hawk in surprise. Hawk stared at Deanna in surprise as well. "I see the tragic turn of events on this planet as karmic irony," stated the empath. "The Humans of this world took some of the simian species DNA and combined it with their own so that they could use the resulting hybrid offspring as servants."

"They were slaves," amended Hawk. "Whipped and beaten into servitude. Sometimes even burned with flamethrowers."

"Hey, I didn't own any monkeys!" snapped the former pilot. "So you can't blame me for what other people did. Rich people, at that."

"You lived in a democratic society, right?" verified Deanna. "Then you were free to voice your opinions on the matter. Did any of you say anything against allowing simian hybrids to be created and then forced into being servitude? Or even vote against it?" A few of the men's faces became violent, but a low growl from the feral Vincent left them sitting in a more meek manner while the Starfleet counselor continued to have her say. "If you didn't even bother to vote on it, then you have no right to gripe about the outcome later when the results finally do affect you."

"What are you talking about? I didn't cause this to happen. And it was happening all over the world besides," said Jedediah, looking confused. He glanced over at some of the other men, but none appeared to want to support him in this confrontation.

"Let me simplify it for you then," Deanna said. "Your neglect, as well as the neglect of many other people, allowed for a new species to be created. From the very beginning they learned the brutal lesson that might makes right. That torture enforces obedience. That one species can and must dominate the other." She paused to let that sink in. "Once the Apes learned that they were actually stronger then their Human oppressors and that they could fight back, it only made sense to them to become dominate over the Humans and make the Humans the slaves."

"You're saying we did this to ourselves?" Jedediah asked.

"Through your inaction, yes. You suffer from lazy ethics. You allow bad or immoral things to happen until they happen to affect you in some way."

"So you think we should just let the monkeys rule over us because of some bad judgment calls made in the past?" he asked, outraged.

"Not at all. I think you and the Ape Nations need to find a means to make peace. A joint effort to oppose the Borg could be a strong point on ending the hostilities and slavery between your two groups."

"Lady, you are…"

"I agree with you," stated Hawk, rising to his full height. "Apes and Humans should find a peaceful means of coexistence. But it will not be possible if we are unable to stop the Borg." He held out a hand toward the skinny pilot, but Jedediah just stomped away, past nearby brush.

Deanna stepped forward and took Hawk's still outreached hand in her own. The young Gorilla's hand seemed to engulf hers. A number of the men held their breath, expecting the young Gorilla to tear off the woman's arm or something. After nothing occurred beyond a long handshake, the men settled down.

The counselor went back to Barclay and tapped him on the shoulder. "They are all yours again, lieutenant. I'll be checking on Worf's war council. Have fun." She left, walking back into the tunnel, many eyes following her appreciatively.

Reg tried not to stare after her like the others, but he couldn't deny his continued attraction to her. Not that he could hide it from her empathic abilities. He just didn't want Worf learning of his continued affections. "All right, people. While this has been enlightening, there is still an upcoming fight. One of the best way to survive it is to know about your enemy." He was relieved to have their attention focused again on him instead of Deanna. He was worried how the discussion was going to go, so he had carefully and discretely checked that his phaser was on stun in case he needed to use it.

Reg lifted a hand in order to wave someone from the shadows of the highway tunnel. A humanoid shadow with a red laser beam preceded the clanking sound of heavy footsteps. A number of the men looked for places to bolt. The Gorilla, Hawk, stood wide-eyed and slack jawed, his bristles raised as he stared at a nightmare returned to haunt him.

"Now," began Reg, "we are fortunate that one of our allies, a artificial intelligence life form, was accidentally integrated into a damaged Borg drone so that we can-"

A shrill shriek filled the air. The young Gorilla bared his ferocious teeth at the approaching drone. Hawk reached for his side holster, momentarily forgetting that both Aunty Entity's men and he had been disarmed for this meeting so that no hostile flare-ups would allow them to fire on their enemies of the last few decades.

Hawk grabbed up a hubcap from the top of a pile someone had made long ago and threw it with deadly accuracy at the drone 40 feet away.

The drone barely raised an arm in time to deflect the saucerous object that had been hurtled toward its head. As it was, the blow did knock the drone to one side and left it somewhat off balance.

Hawk this opportunity to grab and hurl two more hubcaps in rapid succession at his target. Both circular metal objects would have been fatal head shots, as the unbalanced drone was unable to raise it's arms to deflect them a second time, if not for the faint shimmering in the air just in front of the drone. The two hubcaps ricocheted harmlessly off the drone's force shield causing Hawk's heart to sink.

He was about to bolt for the tree line when a large object tackled him from behind, knocking the breath from his lungs. Powerful hands pinned his arms to his side. A ferocious growl in his ear froze the growl growing in his own throat.

"Did you not listen," Vincent spoke calmly in his ear. "That robotic person is not our enemy. It is an ally wearing the guise of the enemy."

The young Gorilla managed to twist his head to the side from where he lay in the dirt. The drone, similar to the ones that he had seen attack and defeat his comrades earlier that day, was no longer advancing toward him. Instead it seemed to be examining the structure of it's own arm to see if there was any damage from the first hubcap. The news reporter, Edison Carter, hurried over to the drone, who seemed rather unusually awkward on it's feet.

Elisa stepped in front of Hawk's view. "And what was that stunt all about?" From her tone, Reg could tell that she was used to getting the answers to her questions answered right away."

"Ah," began Reg, "I believe he must have had a close encounter with the Borg drones already. I hadn't realized it or I would not have had Max present himself this way."

The drone housing the artificial intelligence known as Max Headroom swung it's cannon like appendage in a circular motion in an attempt to make sure nothing was damaged.

"Everything alright, Max?" asked Reg.

"Fi-fi-fine and Dandy-dy," stuttered the drone.

For the next hour Reg had Max display various Borg capabilities beginning with the body shields and the drones ability to adapt to any attack. From there they discussed various sensors used by the drones as well as the Borg Collective. Then Reg had Max stun a distant rabbit followed by having him vaporize a 450-pound rock. In the end Reg began explaining about the Borg's desire to assimilate new technologies as well as people to use as drones. Finally, Reg had Max extend the tubules in his intact arm and explained how they are used to release nano-probes into the bloodstream.

"Any questions?"

Someone in the back answered the inquiry in a low tone with a very revealing retort. "We're skewered."

More to come.

Find out where Kenny, Jake Sisko, Angela and Bronx are.

What's on Goliath's mind?

Can a time-lord every just do as they are told?

I am taking a little time off from school so I will have some time to write. Still can't promise very often as my first child was just born on 5/5/05 at 8lbs 12 oz. My wife did not get to have the wonderful birth she had planned and we ended up having to do a c-section. My wife is very weak so I will be helping her more than normal.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 

Jake Sisko carefully aimed his tricorder as he narrated the events it was recording. He didn't need to be so precise with the recording as the device was taking in all the information it could from 180 degrees in front of it. It was so simple that the 21st century reporter Edison Carter seemed to have no problem learning the recording capabilities of a tricorder borrowed to him. Jake had felt impressed, and yet intimidated, by the experienced reporter so had opted to do some recordings away from their temporary encampment. His other reason for leaving the safety of the camp had been to spend more time with the innocently, exotic Gargoyle, Angela. The pretense for this means to stay close to Angela had been provided by the self-proclaimed time-lord's companion, Leela, who thought it would be a good idea to come up with sustenance for all the extra mouths at the camp before too long.

Angela had found him a good view to record from in the bell tower of an old church that had been abandoned. He had been taken by surprise when the female Gargoyle had climbed the wooden structure of the bell tower by driving her fingers into the wood with shear strength and pulling herself up one hand at a time. He had had to search for an entrance at the back of the building and then find the place to climb the bell tower from inside. She didn't comment on the extra time it took him to get the higher location so he just chalked it up to her knowing some of the limits of Humans.

To the north of them lay a grassy field from which old charred beams scattered about could be seen protruding up at odd angles, giving evidence to a fire decades earlier that had burned down a number of homes of a once booming suburban neighborhood.

"It will be soon," Angela spoke softly. She placed a hand on his shoulder in anticipation as she scanned the edge of the trees.

Jake felt a jolt of electricity under her touch and wondered if she felt it, too. Her continual gaze at the tree line lead him to conclude that she had not. Earlier in the day, Jake had risked kissing the formidable female. She had responded kindly and returned the kiss, but had expressed later that she just was not attracted to him in that manner. She did say she wanted to be friends though. Ouch. It made him wonder if he had not inherited the Sisko charm that his father had. He also wondered if he was suffering from the Riker Syndrome. Commander William Riker's academy romances were as legendary as they were daring. When Nog returned from attending the Starfleet Academy, he had told him about the Riker Syndrome, which was a condition many new cadets at Starfleet Academy seemed to go through – though none as degree of Cadet William Riker who the cadets at the academy had named it after – simply put it was an overwhelming attraction to aliens of the opposite gender. It was rumored that Commander Riker had had over fifty-four romantic flings with alien females but trying to accurately keep track of each of Riker's new romances seemed next to impossible. A few cadets had proposed writing a thesis papers about the romantic interests of the Commander but the teachers at the academy, although amused at the thought, refused to allow the besmirching of a Starfleet hero.

"Our hunters are in place," Jake spoke softly to the recorder so as if not to disturb the prey. "Now they await for the distraction and chance."

The prey in question consisted of over fifty wild cow, a dozen water buffalo, four elephants and about thirty kangaroos. The water buffalo and the elephants had evidently escaped from the zoo decades before during the collapse of civilization and found means to survive in the Australian landscape. How and why they were congregating with cows and kangaroos though was interesting speculation. Jake was about to comment into the recorder on how herds of zebra and giraffes of Africa intermingled for safety sake when the distraction began.

Vic Fontaine, the holographic singing program from Deep Space Nine, stepped out into the grassy clearing wearing one of his best suits and a smile. He bowed to his audience of animals that were fifty feet away, and then began belting out the lyrics to 'New York, New York' with the full accompaniment of an invisible band. The animals initial response was a startled jerk of surprise, but as Vic began walking forward while making grand gestures with his arms it proved to be too much for the wild creatures.

The animals immediately stampeded away from the sudden burst of loud noise. The large bull elephant lead the retreat followed by his two female elephants and a year old baby elephant that squealed sharply at being left behind. The Kangaroos followed the retreat of the elephants, and then began to spread around the massive creatures and pass them. The water buffalos and cows were in rear but followed behind the other animals in order to get away from the noisy human.

As the animals were passing near a collapsed shed with a rusty, tin roof, another large creature sprang up and charged the cows and water buffalo. The creature, although massive and gray, resembled a canine. Riding on the creature's shoulders was a young boy who seemed to be having the time of his life. "Yeeehaa! Go get 'em, Bronx!"

The canine Gargoyle known as Bronx grunted in acknowledgment, running even faster until he was almost parallel to the herd. Kenny, the Immortal boy who was now a companion to the time-lord known as the Doctor, gauged the distance between himself and the nearest running beast. Placing his feet against Bronx's back, Kenny leaped over toward one of the running cows. In mid air, he pulled out his machete and as he landed on the cow's back he severed it's spinal cord. As the creature went limp, Kenny leapt again, this time for the ground away from the running animals. He was not afraid of being hurt. He was an Immortal after all. But he did take the precaution to roll into a ball in order to take as little injury to himself as possible.

After Bronx had separated from his passenger, the mighty canine looked for his own prey as he ran. He turned closer to the herd, which was starting to take notice of him and turning away from him. Bronx made a mighty leap and landed with his claws on the back of an old bull. The bull tried to run from under the Gargoyle's claws and escape but Bronx's jaws reached over and snapped the beast's neck.

The remaining animals fled to the open fields past a scattering of trees. After most of the beasts had past, a leather-clad female figure detached from the trees with a spear, landing on a old female water buffalo that had been falling behind the others in the herd. The creature cried out once as the spear entered into her flesh, and then collapsed. The rest of the herd ran away as the sun began to descend.

"All of the hunters seemed to have been successful," Jake stated for the recorder. "Even now, flies are beginning to form over the kills." Even from this distance, Jake could see Leela extracting the organs from the water buffalo. Jake grimaced as a wave of nausea went over him, but continued. "With light beginning to fade, the hunters must swiftly prepare their kills for transport. Remove of the organs not only reduces the weight the hunters have to carry back to camp, but keeps injured organs from leaking damaging fluids into the sought after meat of the creature."

Jake noticed Kenny stumbling over to him kill, machete in hand. Bronx had just finished dragging his old bull over and was licking his paws clean. The boy Immortal used his sharp instrument to slice his kill open from neck to groin in a quick, easy motion, cutting even through the rib cage with practiced precision. Then Kenny reached in carefully as if searching for something.

Puzzled as to why he wasn't just removing the organs like Leela had, Jake turned to Angela. "What's he doing?"

"I'm not sure, but it looks like he found it."

Kenny struggled briefly, but after a moment managed to pull out a large brown organ intact.

"Is that … is that the liver?" Jake asked aghast.

Bronx approached the boy, slobbering. Kenny grinned and then threw the liver high over the Gargoyle dog's head. Bronx leaped up six feet, flipped in mid air, as he snapped up the dripping liver. He landed on his four feet with a mouth full of hot liver. With a couple of chomps, Bronx swallowed the organ while receiving praises from Kenny who seemed very much like the kid he resembled at the moment.

Angela laughed at the play between unusual boy and dog. "I'm going down to join in the game," she said, and spread her wings and glided down to the fresh carcasses where she also began flinging extracted animal organ bits into the air to the grateful Bronx on the receiving end.

Jake's response was to merely placed the tricorder carefully of the edge of the railing, turn his back on the scene, and then slowly lower himself to his knees while taking deep breaths of air. _Perhaps_, concluded Jake to himself_, I don't have enough in common with Angela to make a relationship work_. With that, Jake Sisko threw up.

It was with some trepidation that Deanna watched the young Gorilla named Hawk be escorted out of their base, which was two-lane highway tunnel going through a hill, but was collapsed on the far end. The men, who all evidently worked for some lady who called herself Aunty Entity, were insistent that neither the Gorilla nor the Chimpanzee be allowed to roam around free. Considering the hatred, mistrust, and just plain ignorant, bigoted fear surrounding the men, she was amazed that they had agreed to that much. From her empathic abilities though she was able to tell that they were more afraid of the Borg then of the hybrid Simians. From what she had been able to gather from the Simians Hawk and Spur, they had an even stronger fear of the Borg, which made sense since they had actually survived an encounter with the Borg.

The escort for Hawk was the sun-hardened Micky Dundee, who wore a crocodile skin vest and very large sheathed knife placed very obviously at his side. The two exchanged quiet comments with each other as they headed in the general area of the makeshift latrine that Jedediah and some of the other men had dug earlier in the day.

Deanna had been observing the stars of the Australian night sky while contemplating her new relationship with Worf when Hawk and Dundee came into view. She had been aware of them before that due to the empathic abilities with which she was born. "Gentlemen, what brings you two out here?" she asked, as she stepped into their path.

Dundee and Hawk were taken aback for a second at the sudden intrusion. "Uh, the latrine," Dundee finally said.

Deanna shook her head, not believing it for a second. "Try again. I'm not from around here, remember, but I've listened enough to know what the majority view is here. And my empathic abilities tell me that you two do not share these views." She folded her arms over her chest to indicate her resolve. "Now why don't we just cut to the chase and you two tell me what you two are conspiring over."

The young Gorilla looked embarrassed and glanced over at Dundee, the more experienced man, for a sign as to what to do. Dundee just grinned. "I think we are going to have to trust her," said the Croc hunter.

Hawk let out a snort of minor frustration as he followed Deanna and Dundee into the shadows of the nearby trees. He glanced back at the old highway tunnel to ensure that the Chimpanzee did not see him consorting with Humans. Spur would kill him if he had even a hint of Hawk's true loyalties.

Dundee sat down on an old log. "Well, you've heard some of the story already. When the Apes came into power, Humans were either killed, make into slaves, or ran for their lives into whatever existence they could find in the Outback wilderness."

"So the Apes," spoke up Hawk, "had hated being slaves, and soon some found that they hated slavery being forced on Humans as well. But Ape society was based on a hatred for their former oppressors, the Humans." Hawk paused, and glanced at Dundee who nodded for him to continue. "So an experiment was conducted in a secret valley; a secret society was formed to see if Humans and Apes could live peacefully together in the same habitat."

Deanna's eyes widened. "And the result?"

"Success," Hawk answered. "Human and Ape have lived side by side in the village of New Eden for almost fifteen years now. The children go to school together, the parents work the fields side by side. However, our success at New Eden may have led to our failure with the rest of the Ape Nation. Only the most compassionate Apes were allowed to be slipped away to populate New Eden. They brought with them whatever Humans they thought might embrace this new lifestyle. This left a void in the mainstream Ape society that has resulted in many to become further and further entrenched in their habitual hatred toward all Humans."

Dundee patted Hawk on the shoulder and began telling his share of the tale. "The Council of Eden, made up of five Apes and five Humans by the way, are afraid that all their good work may come too naught unless something drastically changes the mainstream opinions of both Apes and Humans. As it is, they believe that if New Eden were discovered, that all the Humans and Apes that live in that valley will be killed."

"So you two are…"

"Spies," confirmed Dundee.

"But not malicious!" Hawk quickly added. "Ours is an extremely peaceful society."

"Very well, I shall not give you away," she said. "But what are you doing out here now?"

"Sharing information," Dundee stated. "Young Hawk and I have never met before this, but we recognized the signals that we sent to each other to know that we both supported New Eden." He paused in thought before revealing something else to the Starfleet councilor. "I am leaving for a while tonight. I need to send a communication about all this to New Eden."

"New Eden is near here?" she asked.

"No, but we have managed to get a telegraph system working again and have a telegraph booth nearby."

"I didn't see any telegraph cables," commented Deanna.

Dundee smiled. "That's because we didn't place them up in the air for everybody to see. There's a lot of underground cable about that wasn't being used. We just tapped into it and made use of it where we could. Other areas we strung new wires through the sewer system. That was interesting work considering all the crocs and other critters that have moved in there once the sewer stopped flowing out of the city." He grinned. "I'll be quite safe and back before anyone should miss me."

"We really should conclude this soon," Hawk said nervously.

"You think Spur will get suspicious?"

"There is that," agreed Hawk. "But I also really need the use of the latrine." There was just a touch of urgency in his deep voice.

Dundee grinned. "Very well. Counselor Troi, if you will let us conclude our business, we will see you tomorrow morning."

See wished them well, and turned back toward the tunnel in the hill. She had much to discuss with Worf. It was then that see noticed the still shape of the Gargoyle up above the tunnel entrance. She had forgotten that Goliath had volunteered to relieve Robocop and Max Headroom of guard duty for part of the night as the Gargoyle's night vision was more than adequate to ensure they did not suffer a sneak attack while the rest of the group rested.

Had Goliath heard the discussion she had had with Hawk and Dundee? Since he was not even from this parallel Earth, did he even care. She thought about talking to him but noticed he seemed deep in thought and made no move to address her so she continued on into the tunnel and resumed her search for Worf.

At least he was alive. That was what Pudface Morgan kept telling himself. Sure his wrists and ankles were bound together to a thick rope that was attached to deeply set stake, but he was alive. He may have numerous mosquitoes and other bugs biting at him all over but at least he was alive. He was huddled in the middle of a circle of snoring intelligent mutant Guerilla Gorillas who didn't like him very much, but he was alive. Okay, so he was alive, the key now, he told himself was how to remain that way.

He bite down on his forearm at an insect that he couldn't see and was surprised to find that the bug was much larger that he had thought. He quickly crunched the insect between his teeth and spit it out as fast as he could. The insect/spit hit the back of a Gorilla sleeping near him and Morgan froze thinking that he had just ended his life. After a few minutes the hardened criminal began breathing as the Ape creature continued to sleep.

Ogre, the leader of this band of Gorilla soldiers, had only one use for Morgan. For some reason the Ape wanted to lay claim to the time-lord's TARDIS, for the exact purposes that were unknown to Pudface. Only when the captured Pudface had brought them to the last known location of the TARDIS is was missing. Someone or more likely someones had gone to an awful lot of trouble of hauling the TARDIS away and covering up the trail. This had left Ogre to believe that the TARDIS was even more valuable than before and had become more determined than ever to gain it for his own uses. Because the TARDIS was remained missing was the only reason Pudface could believe that Ogre had spared his life. This meant that it was more important than ever for him to escape. But how? He'd been beaten unmercifully the day before and even now he had problems walking; running was impossible. He'd never ridden a horse until that day and the chaffing that had done to his legs told him that another try at that would be impossible for quite a while.

There wasn't much light that night. The guards kept two small fires burning on either side of the circle, using the fire to provide smoke to deter the numerous insects rather than an actually light source. One of the five guards put some more leaves on the small fire, which resulted in a slight sizzling as well as a small cloud of rising smoke.

He was about to try sleep again when he noticed that the two guards downwind of the smoke lay slumped on the ground. One of the other guards noticed something, too, and was about to say something when something seemed to bite him on the neck. He slapped at it hard. The guard scratched at his coarse, furry neck briefly before also slumping to the ground. The other two guards, who had been retrieving more leaves for the fire from a nearby tree, let out a howl and dropped their light burdens at the sight of the other prone guards.

At first he had assumed that Robocop and the others had come to rescue him. That tin starred tin man would have been a welcome sight as far as the hardened criminal was concerned just then. He had to reject the notion, however, as Robocop's style was to come in with weapons blazing in order to settle the matter. Besides, when he last left Robo and their new friends they were fighting pretty badly against the Borg.

The racket of the fallen guards woke Ogre instantly; his weapon was ready and aimed in the darkness. His eyes instantly assessed the situation. Two other Gorillas also rose from their sleep but the rest remained cloaked in slumber, even after the simian leader had kicked two of the dozing forms. They had all been tranquilized a head of time.

"Come out!" he snarled at the darkness; his rifle aimed in front of him.

For an answer, one of his soldiers gave a surprised cry then drooped to the ground in slow motion. Ogre retaliated by firing into the darkness. His remaining soldiers took the initiative to also fire blindly into the night. Each Gorilla soldier in turn fell unconscious to the hard ground until only Ogre remained.

Ogre roared in frustration at his hidden nemeses. He turned to his captive and advanced on him. Pudface tried to back away but the cords binding him kept him from moving more than a foot or so.

Somehow in that noisy moment, Pudface was able to hear the dart softly whistling through the air before hitting the Ape leader. Ogre snarled as he attempted to reach his goal. Another dart hit him and his rubbery legs gave out causing him to just miss falling on the bound figure of Pudface.

Pudface gave a sigh of relief at still being alive. Twisting his feet around, he managed to get in an angle when he was able to deliver a hard kick to the side of Ogre's head. "Damn monkey," he growled. He quickly turned to the matter at hand, as he did not know if the people with the darts were friendly or not. He tried using his teeth on the ropes binding him but it proved fruitless.

His head lifted from the tight ropes when he heard the sound of approaching footsteps. His eyes strained into the darkness until he saw some figures approaching. They were Human and Pudface gave a sigh of relief. Then he remembered what type of a Human he was and became a little nervous.

A thin form of medium height came up to where he lay. "You all right, mister?"

"Kid!" yelled out one of the other figures. "What'd I tell you 'bout gettin' ahead of me? You gotta check; make sure everybody's out first. Then you can see 'bout the prisoner."

"But he could have been hurt," answered the teenage boy who seemed all skin and bone to Pudface.

"True, but if one of these soldier Apes were not all the way out, you could be killed before you could give 'em any help, right? Now get over heres and give a hand checking on these blokes. Clayton will check on the man there. He's got the medical know-how."

The skinny kid shrugged to Pudface, then ambled over toward one of the incapacitated Gorillas in order to retrieve any weapons it had. It looked funny to see the kid trying to frisk the prone simian; and when the kid struggled to roll the Ape over to check the other side of the creature Pudface managed to break into a grin. It wasn't much of a grin as it revealed a ring of dried blood around the edges of his mouth, a missing tooth, and two bent teeth that might also fall out in the next couple of days, but Pudface could spot a do-gooder a mile away, and these two fellas definitely fell into that category so he knew that they wouldn't harm him.

He leaned back and looked up at the stars in the sky. He hadn't seen them since he was a kid. How'd there get to be so many stars? he wondered. They weren't very bright so what was the use of them. They didn't even fall into any reasonable pattern. That group there did kind of resemble the face of one of first guys he had roughed up when he started out in the protection racket. Well, it resembled the guy after they had finished beating him with a hockey stick. And that cluster of stars resembles that old Ford Mustang he had boosted when he had just turned fourteen.

His thoughts floated among the stars for longer than he realized, for the next thing he knew someone was beside him loosening the rope binding his hands. When he looked up, however, what he saw was not what he was expecting. The face peering down at him was leathery and surrounded by a long orangish hair that reflected the light of the small campfire. But the thing that was most obvious to the bound criminal was that the face looking down at him was not Human.

"Aaauuhhhh!" Pudface Morgan tried to pull away but he was still tied up. He tried swinging his fists together at the hairy creature but it caught them easily and held them still with little effort.

"Now none of that," admonished the orange-haired creature. "If you keep behaving like this, I'll come under the impressing that you are uncivilized."

"What-what-what are you?"

"How very droll," said the creature with just a hint of a smile. "I wonder, have you never seen a doctor before? If not, you are very fortunate to be seen by one now." The creature lifted a furry hand up toward Pudface's head, but Pudface pulled fiercely away. "Enough of this foolishness!" said the self-proclaimed doctor. The creature used one very large hand to hold the felon still while he began his examination. "Oh my! What did they do to your nose! It's huge!"

Pudface quickly brought his hands up to his face and felt his nose. "Hey! It's always been that size!"

The creature pondered that. "Are some sort of hybrid Human?"

"What! I'm a hundred percent Human!"

"Dr. Clayton, will he be all right? Can he travel on his own or should I saddle a horse for him." It was the skinny lad. The young kid was short for his age and on closer inspection by Morgan appeared to be just past his mid teens.

"Humph, nothing wrong with him that a good meal, rest and a couple of baths wouldn't cure." The doctor handed part of the loose rope to the kid's hand. "You untie him, Junior. I'll check on the others. Make sure no one is having a bad reaction to the tranquilizer and that sort of thing."

Morgan watched the creature move away. The boy had already knelt down to untie his hands. "What is that thing?" he asked the teenager.

"Huh? What, Dr. Clayton? He's an Orangutan. Haven't you ever seen an Orangutan before?"

"Not one that talked." He paused in thought while rubbing his freed hands. "And he's really a doctor?"

Junior nodded.

"I've dealt with some monkeys that claimed to be doctors before, but never a real monkey."

"Never call them that," hissed the boy, quietly but firmly. "They hate that term."

"They?" Pudface looked out and suddenly realized that there were other non-Humans around. Most appeared to be trying up his Gorilla captors. Some appeared to be Gorillas themselves, which really surprised him. And they seemed to be working with a number of Human men and women. A cart pulled by a team of oxen came into view revealing the sought after TARDIS as the cargo.

"What's going on here?"

"Hopefully, the start of a new world," stated Junior.

The morning trek was uneventful. Everyone one was rested and had ate hardily of the leftovers from the previous night before heading out just before dawn. Edison Carter was used to difficult hours, but there was just something about traipsing across the country in the early morning hours that he found invigorating. He had no idea how to explain this feeling as he had never spent time in a wilderness-like setting before, and he found that unusually frustrating as he was a reporter and used to being able to describe things.

Currently, as he trailed along behind the others, he was trying to figure out the settings to the Starfleet tricorder he had been allowed to use. He had convinced Worf to allow him to accompany them on this scouting trip on the bases that he could collect various data as well as film different events that transpired. Worf had been reluctant, but agreed that a new view from a 21st century professional newscaster might be appreciated by Starfleet Command for its novelty when this was all over. Edison had been about to take offense but realized that the beefy alien had agreed to allow him to tag along. Now Edison just had to figure out how the tricorder worked.

Pressing buttons that Jake Sisko had showed him yesterday, a small map of the area ahead of him appeared on the screen. Seven blips showed up ahead of him moving slowly away. The first two were easy to tell – Mikey 'Crocodile' Dundee and Worf. The strange man enigmatically called the Doctor followed closely behind them along with his companion, Leela. Further back was Max, who some of the others called the Road Warrior, who seemed to prefer his solitude. Just ahead of Edison was the Gargoyle known as Goliath and the hybrid Chimpanzee, Spur.

"Okay," Edison said, as he stepped around a partially nasty brush with long sharp thorns. "Let's see if we can bring the picture in a little." A giant dung beetle loomed menacingly on the tricorder's screen with its front mandibles opening and closed in warning. "That's a little too close," Edison commented to himself.

A few more buttons later had him looking at the backs of Goliath and Spur and they walked farther ahead of him than he had intended. "Looks like I have some catching up to do," muttered Edison.

"- fight amongst themselves all the time, but they also rise up to attack others," Spur could be heard saying from the tricorder.

"Hmmm, must have hit an audio button somehow," the newsman said to himself.

"Humans have a special hate for those that are different from their species," spate Spur.

"I have seen this hate," confided Goliath. "My own clan, which during the daylight hours are normally helpless stone statues, were betrayed into their hands and were almost completely annihilated."

"And that is exactly what the Humans would do to my people now that they know we will never be their slaves or pets again!" Spur said.

Edison considered what he was hearing. Their alliance was splintering from within due to prejudice. He'd have to go to Commander Worf about this. He tried to hit the record button on the tricorder so that he could have visual evidence of this conversation but had inadvertently hit the wrong button and the image of Goliath and Spur on the tricorder went blank. He touched another button and that brought up an earlier recording of an interview he had attempted to conduct with the one called Max, who some of the men called the Road Warrior.

He tried a few more buttons on the tricorder when he realized that he was catching up with everyone. Looking out at the harbor, the newsman realized that they had arrived to their destination.

"Now, those Borg blokes are back thataway where the harbor bends back. But, what should interest us is right across the water over there," said 'Crocodile' Dundee. "It's a little hard to see do to the glare of the sun, but it is there."

Worf pulled up his tricorder and adjusted the dials faster than Edison could follow. "It appears to be a submersible vessel for traveling underwater."

"A submarine?" the Doctor asked rhetorically. "How is that of any use to us?"

"It's an abandoned Russian sub," Max stated. He was kneeling down staring into the glare of the water while biting down on a blade of grass he had picked. "Stories came to us in the Outback of a Russian submarine whose crew had mutinied after the big Electro-Magnetic bomb had rendered it just a big floating piece of scrap metal, like it had done to most everything else. Being close to the harbor at Sydney, the crew managed to steer the sub into it before abandoning it."

"How does a submarine help us?" asked Goliath.

"They want to see if it has nuclear bombs on board," Edison said with a harsh accusing tone.

"Are you mad!" shouted Spur. "Those bombs are devices of mass destruction."

"Which, if used carefully, can be like a surgical strike, removing the Borg threat from this universe," pointed out Worf, who was carefully studying something on his tricorder.

"My people live near here. The city itself house thousands of Baboons as well."

"Which is why we will give you time to have them clear out of this area," answered Worf.

"Surely, there must be another way," said the Doctor.

Worf turned to face the Doctor. "Then tell me what it is. Every moment we delay, the Borg become stronger. Once they complete their ship, they will use it to assimilate everyone on this continent. Then they will use that population to build a bigger ship. Then they will assimilate the rest of the inhabitants of this planet. More ships will be built and then they will start reaching out to other planets in this universe searching for unique lifeforms and unknown technology that they can absorb into themselves. Billions upon billions of lives are in jeopardy if we do not stop the Borg here and now."

The Doctor fiddled with his hat while he was deep in thought. "Can you figure out how far everyone will need to travel in order to reach a safe distance from the blast?"

"Once I get a closer inspection of the nuclear devices in the submarines I should be able to determine the blast radius. The radiation and shielding is blocking me from getting precise information from here," Worf said. "Spur, can you convince you people, as well as the Baboons that occupy this city, to evacuate to safety?"

"You are not giving us any choice," Spur spoke with a snarl.

"The Borg will give your people even less of a choice," said the Doctor.

Leela cried out to the others from the shoreline. She had found a rusty pontoon that still floated lodged into the branches of an overhanging tree. She had attempted to free the boat by herself but overtime it had become too engulfed in branches for her to disengage.

"Well, I guess that answers how you are going to get over to the Russian sub," Edison said. "Only problem now is can any one here read Russian?"

"I can," said Worf. "My adopted parents were Russian," he said in explanation, then turned to help Leela, leaving a number of bewildered people behind him

Author's note:

Took me a long time to put this together. Sorry. Really mean that.

Had a baby 3 months ago, just moved with very little help and had to renovate and paint some first, started a new job at a hospital, and will be started college again soon. My wife also wants some of my time as well. Life has been busy. But I'm closer to the end.

Here's some thoughts I've been having about the story. Please let me know what you think.

I've been planning to kill one of the Star Trek team. Should I or not?

I've also been considering putting Leela in a relationship with someone. Thoughts?


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Worf scanned the reactor core of the Russian submarine again with his tricorder, a look of bewilderment on his face while the Doctor put away his sonic screwdriver.

"How did you accomplish that?" demanded the Klingon.

"Just used a little ingenuity and some items on hand," responded the Doctor absently. He patted a nearby alarm clock that he had found among the living quarters on the sub. "We use this as our timer and it should allow us enough time to get clear for the detonation."

The Starfleet officer acknowledged the time lord with a grim look. "But will everyone else be able to get clear of the blast in time?"

While the time lord had manipulated the nuclear core of the sub and connected it with several of the nuclear missiles in its arsenal so that it would explode with an increased blast but with very low yield of radiation, the devastation of the explosion would most likely wipe out the Borg drones if they were taken unawares. However it would also wipe out all the other inhabitants in and around the fallen city of Sydney.

"Time is always an essential factor to consider; fortunately it is second nature for a time lord." He rearranged his long scarf around his neck. "That being the case I made arrangements."

"Is that where Spur, Dundee, Goliath and the cameraman went?" asked Worf. 'Without my permission or knowledge," he added internally, irate at the time lord's gall.

"Yes, answered the Doctor as he walked down the halls of the sub, careful not to bump his hat of the low ceiling in places. "Yes, Dundee needed them if he was to accomplish his goal."

Worf waited a moment before realizing the Doctor was going to make him inquire. "And what goal was that?"

"To help clear the people out of the area, of course."

Worf frowned, but kept his anger in check. Deanna would have been proud of his control. "I thought Edison Carter, the cameraman had a problem with Spur and Goliath?"

"Yes, he had overheard something of a conversation they had had that he found questionable. I asked him to keep an open mind and go with them."

Worf grumbled at being kept out of the loop.

"It was very fortunate that I found that large inflatable life raft and a small motor that still worked," added the Doctor, ignorant of Worf's building frustration. "It will definitely speed up Dundee's journey."

"While ours is slowed by that leaky pontoon Leela found," Worf muttered.

"Leela and that other fellow will have fixed that by now," stated the Doctor.

He began to climb the ladder that would lead them up to the outside deck. As he stuck his head out into the clear air he froze. "Oh dear," he whispered in a barely audible tone.

Worf pushed past the Doctor to see if they were under attack, phaser raised and primed to fire.

Instead of an attack by drones or mutated Baboons, what caught his eye was Leela passionately embracing the one Worf had only heard referred to as the Road Warrior.

The Doctor sighed. "It looks like I may be loosing another Companion. Too bad. She was quite adept to dangerous situations."

Worf shook his head in disbelief and climbed down the ladder, pulling a reluctant time lord downwards in order to give the new lovers a few moments alone.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"That's it. You've made the insertion. Now inject a few in and retain contact."

After a few moments pause the one doing the inserting gave an exasperated sigh. "I-I-I'm losing it-it. They aren't-aren't-aren't-t-t-t-t-t listening to me. They are-are still trying to follow their original p-p-p-pro-programming. I'm just confusing them-them-m-m-m."

The Starfleet medical program sighed. As a holographic figure, he should not be able to get frustrated, but that was just another of the annoying things that he had to accept and put up with due to being sentient. Sentience also let him feel other things, though, such as a kinship to the computer program Max Headroom who had become stuck in a damaged drone's body. So, here the doctor was trying to help the other program adjust to being newly solid.

The main problem for Max was that the drone's body was a very complex cyber-organism. Body movement had been easy enough; small internal appliances worked automatically covering normal functions like breathing being conducted by artificial lungs and a small internal replicator providing the body with food supplements. It was the more advanced mechanisms that were proving to be a problem for Max.

Target practice had proven to be too dangerous around the living and had been postponed indefinitely after the time lord's new Companion, Kenny, had been temporarily 'killed' by a stray shot. Bronx had half ripped Max's weapon appendage off his arm before the Gargoyle dog could be pulled off by Angela and Robocop. After Kenny's resurrection, which calmed Bronx considerably, the holographic medical program sought to try safer experiments with Max just outside of camp.

Currently the doctor had been having Max attempt to emphasize his control over the nano-probes by inserting them into a small plant with a broken branch in order to have the nanites repair the break. As the doctor watched in anticipation, a gray mass appeared at the breaking point of the plant. The doctor slowly lifted the branch into it's original position and let the nanites do their job.

"I think it's working!"

"R-really-ly?" Max said with some surprise.

"Yes, it's definitely-"

The small branch burst into flame.

Max sighed while the small flame was being put out by the doctor. "I-I-I- think it's just-t-t beyond me-me-e-e. I think-ink all I'm good for-for-for is messing up other-other-er-er things."

The holographic doctor shook his head. "No. I refuse to believe that. Your programming must advance. You must evolve to survive in your new environment."

"I-I don't think that is-is possible. I've never-ver-ver done anything-thing like that before-fore."

"That doesn't mean you can't. And with practice you can learn to do it. You must remember, your programming - your essence if you will - is based on the Human mind of Edison Carter. And he is quite an adaptable fellow. Your program must have some of those characteristics or it would have broken down and dispersed long before now."

"I-I-I don't know-w…"

"You got the holographic imager to work for you, didn't you?" The small holo-imager displayed Max's face over that of the face of the Borg drone he inadvertently appropriated. The visual was a little grainy like you would see on a television, plus it also displayed Max's virtual ticks and stutters much to the dismay of anyone seeing him. "Now we just have to figure out how to get everything else working for you."

The Starfleet medical program stepped back, turned, and pointed to a nearby small tree that had a gash in its bark from when Bronx had brushed past it earlier in the day. "Now let's try again. Think of what you want accomplished, and then convey it as instructions to the nanites."

Max looked down at the tubules extended from his hand. "I-I really-ly-ly think that I'm-m-m-m-m-m not com-com-compatible with these things-s-s-s. I seem-seem to be driving-ing-ing the nano-probes nuts-s."

The doctor sighed. "I know the feeling. But try again anyway."

Max gave an exasperated sigh, but stepped up to the small tree and prepared to try the use of nanites again.

A cry rang out from the camp soon followed by weapon fire.

"Now what?" snapped the doctor, hurrying to the commotion with the drone occupied by Max Headroom slowly following.

It only took him a nanosecond to assess the situation as when he cleared the brush he saw a female Ktarian drone stabbing her tubules and administering nano-probes to a man that the doctor had treated for bronchitis and gout earlier that day.

"That man is my patient!" shouted the doctor while raising up a phaser and fatally shooting the female drone in the side of the head. As the drone collapsed to the dirt twitching ever so slightly, the phaser slowly fell from the physician's fingers. "I-I've killed her. I became angry and I killed." His face contorted in shock and pain as he tried to come to terms with what had just happened.

The oblivious doctor didn't notice the drone approaching him on his left. His eyes seemed captivated by the phaser lying in the dirt and didn't even seem to note the cyborg hand reaching for the holo-emitter on his arm.

"Hands off the doc!" came a yell followed by a loud thud as Max Headroom plowed into the intruding drone, knocking it off balance. Max followed through by swinging his damaged weapon appendage at the offending drone, but the drone had recovered enough to block the bludgeoning attempt. Max quickly brought up his right arm and stabbed the drone – a Baboon drone – in the face with his extended injection tubules.

"Have some nanites ala Max, b-b-b-baby!"

The drone knocked Max away but the damage had already been done. The drone stumbled back a step while extra gray veins spread across the Baboon profile. It turned to the left and then to the right as if trying to orient on something. Suddenly it fell as if a statue onto its back, trembling ever so slightly while small wisps of smoke rose from various areas on it's body.

Max did not have a chance to think about his victory since more drones of the Borg were approaching. One drone – a Bjoran – fired at Max and hit him on the chest. But to Max's surprise the laser had dissipated against his personal force field.

"Hey! Looks like I'm immune!" Taking the advantage, he rushed forward to make it a full contact battle before the drones could decide on a new, more effective, form of attack.

In bewilderment, the holo-doctor saw the female Gargoyle, Angela, swoop out of the sky plow two drones over with a tree branch. The Gargoyle canine, Bronx, knocked a large drone into view and attacked it with his teeth and claws. The Immortal boy, Kenny, hurried after Bronx, attempting to bury his machete into the large drone's side heard a loud clanging sound as it bounced off. The drone – an unknown humanoid silicon based lifeform that the Borg had come across – batted Kenny away with a metallic tentacle like arm and returned its attentions back to a savage Bronx.

The camp was in chaos from what the doctor could see. Many of Aunty Entity's men had either run off or were being turned into drones. A few were there but it seemed only because they were trapped and had no where else to go. Elisa – the Human companion of the Gargoyles – was firing with her hand gun when a stun beam from one of the attacking drones struck her and she collapsed. The beast-like man, Vincent, roared savagely as he pounced on the drone that had shot Elisa, also startling the doctor out of his stupor.

"This is madness! Why did they seek us out? We didn't approach them. They have plenty of potential drones candidates with the Baboons infesting the city. They must have sensed something-"

Robocop out into the open and opened fire on the drones around Vincent and Elisa.

"Of course! Our technology drew them. Plus, they would have wanted to recycle the fallen drones until they amassed a larger supply in this universe."

Deanna fell next to him. The doctor quickly scooped her up and moved toward the tunnel. He tripped over something and fell. He used his body to shield the Starfleet counselor from the worst of the fall. As he tried to see if she had suffered an additional injury due to his clumsiness, he heard a high pitched electronic shriek behind him. Upon turning, he saw Max Headroom pinned between three drones, defiantly stabbing one of the drones with his tubules, but had also been stabbed by each of the three drones holding him. He was being reassimilated back into the Borg Collective.

"Maxxxxx!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Using an old wooden oar, Leela beat at the drones surfacing from the bay waters. She had actually broken off part of the paddle by hitting them uselessly on the head. Now she used the sharp edge of what remained of the paddle to stab and slash at their faces.

"Leela! Come here!" called the Doctor. "We can't face them out here. We're too exposed."

Leela weaved to the side, avoiding a shot from a drone climbing up the side of the derelict Russian submarine.

"This will delay them." Max, only know by some as the Road Warrior, stepped from behind the time-lord and tossed a bucket of clear liquid onto the climbing drone as well as some of the heads of those still bobbing in the water.

Without wasting time to explain, Max lit an old flare and tossed it over the side and onto the kerosene covered drone. A flash of hot flame enveloped the lead Borg unit and it fell back into the water onto another drone, thus igniting the kerosene in the water. Leela peered over the side of the sub, using one of her hands to fan away some of the smoke.

"They're still there!" she exclaimed. "They're climbing again! All of them!"

The time-lord and the Road Warrior both looked over the side. Drones lined up at the waters edge and were using a magnetic grip in their hand to pull themselves up, releasing the magnetic grip while quickly reaching to a higher part of the metal hull and reactivating the magnetic grip. It was a slow but effective process of climbing, and it struck those standing up above with horror.

Worf came up behind the defenders and pulled them back. "Get inside!" barked the Klingon. He only took a moment to shoot down a few drones with his phaser rifle before heeding his own advice. He changed the modulation of his rifle as he followed the others down into the submarine. He slammed the doors shut, then used his rifle to weld the hatch shut.

"That won't delay them long," he said. "We must hurry."

"Hurry where?" inquired Max. "That's the only way out. The other hatch is rusted shut."

"We need to secure the explosive device."

"We have a timer," said Max. "We should set it and get out of here before it's too late."

Worf turned his stern gaze at him. "It's already too late. Do you really think that the Borg would not disarm the bomb the Doctor devised as soon as they gained access? We must delay them." He paused to let that set and then hit them with the next bombshell. "It is also our duty to make sure that the bomb goes off."

"Hey! I didn't sign up for a suicide mission!" yelled Max.

"Do not worry," said Leela, putting a reassuring hand on Max's shoulder. "The Doctor will think of something to save us."

The time-lord, who had been contemplating the welded hatch, looked up in surprise. "I will?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sitting in the shade, Pudface Morgan sipped deeply of a luke-warm slightly alcoholic fruit juice. Now, instead of having a tight, thick rope binding his wrists and ankles, he had a loose, leather strap around his two ankles. If truth were told, he could have freed his ankles at any time, but he had nowhere to go right now. Not that he would have been free to go just then even as tired as he felt now. But his new 'captors' had fed, bandaged and let him rest while they decided what to do with him. He recognized their sort as the type of softhearted fools that would come and bring care packages to strangers in prison. He knew he could deal with that sort … at least until a better opportunity presented itself. Besides he was enjoying watching these nice guys tying up and manhandling his previous captures.

The leader of the Gorilla soldiers, Ogre, had been manacled, hogtied and had a bag over his head even though he was still sedated. Placed about fifteen feet from Pudface, Pudface could only dream of what he'd like to do to him. Right now he settled for flicking seeds from the fruit he was eating at the sadistic creature. It was just a petty gesture, but for now it felt good since he had run out of small rocks over an hour ago.

As he watched the activity of the temporary camp, he noticed a thin, young woman walking in from the sparse woods. She had sun-bleached hair, dark tanned skin and Pudface was reasonably sure that she could be quite attractive after a few baths. Yeah, I'd buy her for a dollar, he thought to himself with a chuckle. As he continued watching, he saw the young lad know as Junior rush up to her and quickly point out a number of things that he and the others had been doing. The Orangutan doctor, Dr. Clayton, ambled over as well, and Pudface was surprised at the hug she gave the orange-haired creature.

Junior and Dr. Clayton took her over to the TARDIS, which they had strapped on a cart in the middle of the encampment. They circled the blue British police box a few times while discussing things that Pudface could not overhear. Finally the Orangutan turned and pointed straight at Pudface, and the criminal found himself cursing under his breath. He forced a smile.

As the young lady came forward, she sent the lad, Junior, off on some errand, and thus she arrived accompanied only by the Orangutan doctor. "I am Savannah Nix, one of the leaders of New Eden. You are William Ray 'Pudface' Morgan, a criminal."

Morgan blanched. There was only one way that they could have known who he was and that meant that these people were in contact with Robocop and his do-gooder buddies. He could escape, but he wasn't sure he wanted to go traipsing through that deadly wilderness alone again.

"What is this device?" she asked pointing at the TARDIS.

"Hey, all I know is that it's called the TARDIS and it's very freaking unusual. It's not mine and I can't get in it so you might as well let me go."

She let that answer slide by. "Tell me about the Borg." And to his surprise, he did, and in great detail.

Savannah's face looked stonier. "I believe you."

"You do?" he said, perplexed at the thought of anyone believing him, especially with a story like that.

"Yes, one of our agents has joined some of the comrades that you abandoned. They shared some very interesting stories with him which he has telegraphed to us."

"Since you believe me you'll let me go then, right?" he gestured toward his feet and the leather strap binding them together.

"I believe you because you've been drinking a mild truth serum. With the amount that you've ingested, you couldn't possible lie to us without making it very apparent."

Pudface's eyes dropped to the drink in his hand. It was contained in an animal skin of some kind, but he was surprised he hadn't noticed anything in the taste. He had just assumed that it wouldn't be that good. He dropped it and let it seek into the ground.

"What do you want from me?" he asked.

"Not much," she said. "Just no trouble from you."

He looked up and met her eyes.

"I know your kind, Mr. Morgan. This land is filled with them." She studied him for a second, and then added. "And here's a little advice." She bent down low in front of him, and with a quick twist of her wrist a hidden knife had severed the leather cord binding his ankles together. "Before you think we've gone all soft in the head and you start running for the hills, just take a minute to think what is in those hills."

Pudface waited for her to back up before removing the remains of the leather strap from his legs. "Meaning what?"

"Meaning you're city folk and you've no idea of the dangers of the land. You'd probably sit for ten minutes on an anthill without realizing the danger you were in. If you want to leave here, go right ahead. You'd most likely be dead in under six hours. If the snakes don't kill you, then exposure to the sun will. If those don't get you, then that'll mean that the Apes found you and they will most likely kill you as an escaped slave."

He looked at the hills and the dry grass. He knew she was right and he hated her for it. He thought about the possibility of taking her hostage but knew that wouldn't work since his drugged reflexes could not match the speed she showed with her knife.

"What's to become of me?"

"I think it would be best if you returned to your city with this Robocop character. However, I think I will allow you to chose before you would depart whether to go or stay."

"You'd let me stay?"

"Everybody deserves a chance at a new start in life. Not many are willing to take it though as it is usually very hard at first," Savannah said. "I discovered that when my companions and I left our oasis and crossed the sands of the desert to find all this."

Pudface looked around again. "I think you shoulda stuck with the oasis, girlie."

Savannah didn't seem to take notice of his comment though the criminal could have sworn that the hackles of the Orangutan doctor rose in agitation.

Instead, Savannah waved over Junior who was rushing through the camp with a large metal bucket spilling over with water. She took the bucket and in one motion threw its contents on the unconscious figure of Ogre.

The bound Gorilla roared as he tried to rise. Many of the onlookers, including Pudface, recoiled in horror, but Savannah merely stood there and waited for him to settle down.

The hairy arms of the captive strained for some minutes against his bonds before he was willing to admit that he was stuck in this predicament. He settled on his haunches and began scowling through his hood.

Savannah nodded toward two young muscular, adult Apes who were standing guard nearby. They both took a deep breath of reservation, and with that hurried forward and unmasked the military leader.

Ogre didn't fight at all. He looked around, surveying the situation. One of his eyebrows did rise at seeing Apes and Humans both as his captors, but he said nothing as his eyes went from face to face, memorizing them, and silently promising each a horrible death for this indignation.

"Are you finished smoldering or should I throw more water on you to cool you down."

The Gorilla's eyes fastened with the thin, young Human female and he was surprised to see that she wasn't afraid of him. No, that wasn't quite accurate. He could smell her fear. It was just that she wasn't afraid of dealing with him. She had resolved herself to something. And she wanted – no …she needed him to accept whatever it was.

"What do you want?" he demanded, savagely. He had to keep himself calm. It would be so easy to slip into the red rage, but then he would not learn anything. And one of the most important things he had learned was that information was always useful, it just needed to be studied so that it could be put to good use.

Savannah stepped closer to the bound Gorilla. "I want what is best for everybody. A new danger is on the horizon that can not be ignored. My people – Apes and Humans alike – cannot stay in hiding for soon there will be no where to hide."

The spat into the dust. "I see no people here! I see only animals!"

Grumbling and snarls rose up from those surrounding him, but Savannah didn't so much as blink.

"I don't think you appreciate the dire threat we all face."

"Your pitiful group may feel threatened by some new noise in the wilderness, but the Ape Nation shall always triumph!"

"I thought you would feel that way. That is why I had someone brought to convince you." She turned and indicated a small group led by the boy Junior that had been approaching unnoticed. Several guards surrounded the group at a respectful distance but did not have their weapons aimed at the group. The small group of two Humans, a large, gray, formidable humanoid creature of unplaceable origin and a more familiar figure of a Chimpanzee in wearing the dark leather uniform of the Ape military.

Ogre roared in outrage. "You have betrayed me! You have spied for-"

"No!" Spur shouted back. "Never!" He paused to compose himself now that he was here amongst those he considered traitors and the enemy. "You know my history! You know what I lost to the Humans! But if we don't take their help we will lose even more!"

Ogre glowered at the Chimpanzee for a moment more before turning his massive head back to Savannah. "Exactly what is it you want?"

Yea! I am writing again. My next post should be the end of this part of 'A Tangled Web' and then I can go onto the next one.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

When Mikey 'Crocodile' Dundee used the key that the strange man known only as the Doctor had given him to open the blue telephone box, the last thing that he expected was to be confronted by a foot and a half tall, tin-plated erector set model of a small dog.

"Halt. You are trespassing." The voice was cold, lifeless, and electronic but still managed to convey a threatening tone. "I will defend my master's property if you do not leave immediately." The eyes of the little toy-like dog turned a threatening red color and began to roll forward which made Dundee backup a step.

"Ah, I'm supposed to talk to someone named Kayniene." The little dog stopped to contemplate this which Dundee used to add something. "I have a message from the Doctor."

"This unit is designated K-9," said the little robot, it's metallic voice managed to become less threatening while the red light in it's eyes slowly faded.

"Ah, well then." Dundee fiddled around an inner pocket of his crocodile vest until he pulled out a piece of paper. "This is for you." He held it out for a few seconds before realizing that the mechanical hound had no appendages with which to hold the paper. He quickly unfolded it and glanced at it. He didn't recognize the characters used in the script. Unsure of what to do he held it out for K-9 to read.

"Scanning. Analyzing. Handwriting is that of the Doctor's. Written in the language of the third age of Alpha Centurion settlement."

The little robot fell silent as if taking in all the ramifications of the letter filled with squiggly lines. Dundee felt awkward holding up a letter to a still tin dog, especially since he could feel some of the impatient people behind him peering over his shoulder to see to whom he had been talking.

"Sooo, are we friends now?" Dundee asked.

"My master has stated for me to aid you in your endeavor, and explained my duties.

"He has?" Dundee glanced at the strange writing on the paper again to see if he could make any sense of it. "The Doctor didn't exactly explain what it all says. Care to translate?"

K-9's voice box produced a string of words from an unknown language. Dundee held up his hands in protest. "Whoa! How about just the gist of it in English?"

K-9's ears went back and forth for a few seconds. "Time is short. Everyone must enter into the TARDIS if they are to be saved." K-9 rolled back allowing Dundee to take a look inside the interior of the TARDIS.

"Uh, I know this is going to sound a little unusual… or maybe it isn't, but just how big is it in here?"

"Exact size is unknown. However my master has compared the interior space of the TARDIS to that of the surface area of a small planetoid."

Mikey Dundee heard some of the people behind him gasping as they followed close behind him. It was beginning to feel like a huddle of people were watching him from behind because they were too afraid to confront the strange situation themselves. A glance behind him identified some of those closest. Savannah, one of the leaders of the inhabitants of New Eden was nearby due to her status; Edison Carter, the twenty-first century newsman who claimed to be from another parallel reality, was filming the reactions of those looking into the TARDIS, which caused Dundee to suddenly remember that the newsman had also said to have traveled here in the TARDIS and thus should have been the one to volunteer and talk with the robot called K-9. The newsman hadn't even given Dundee let Dundee know that he'd be delivering a message to a robot. Later, Dundee planned to have a little talk with him and perhaps let him know just how little he appreciated having been giving no insight into the matter.

However, it was a lone thick finger tapped him on the shoulder that drew his attention and Dundee was happy for the distraction. The finger belonged to the Orangutan doctor, Dr. Clayton. "Pardon me," asked the hairy physician in a hushed whisper, "but is a tesseract involved in the function of this…TARDIS?"

"By rough definition that is accurate," answered the small computerized canine. "However if we are to comply to my master's orders and save everyone, then we must begin immediately."

Dundee looked back at some of the others coming through the door of the TARDIS. Savannah and Dr. Clayton were there quietly consulting with each other. Savannah gave Dundee the go ahead with a nod, so Dundee returned his attention back to his metallic host. "Tell us what you want to do."

11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

Worf moved his tricorder back and forth as it scanned through the metal walls of the floundered submarine. "It is as we feared. They are cutting their way through the hull."

"Let them," said the Road Warrior. "This waiting around is killing me."

The time-lord known as the Doctor tissed at Max. "Don't be in such a hurry to die. The longer we hold of the Borg, the greater chances we have to surviving all this." The time-lord adjusted the frequency of the sonic screwdriver he was holding, and then resumed working of the phaser rifle Worf had reluctantly allowed him to disassembled. "Fortunately, I think that I can modify the energy of this weapon to create a crude force field, thus keeping the Borg from us."

"That is what you have been doing?" Worf shook his head in frustration, regretfully eyeing the parts of the phaser rifle that Doctor had cast aside on some nearby shelves. "All the Borg will have to do is analyze the force field and adjust their own personal body shields in order to walk right through it."

"That's where the energy frequency modulators use had on the rifles come into play," answered the Doctor, excitedly. "If or perhaps I should say when our shields are scanned it will cause the modulator to change the frequency we are using."

Leela looked at the device the Doctor had been working on. "What happens to a drone if it is coming through the shield when the frequency changes?"

A look on contemplation crossed the wide-eyed Doctor's face. "Well, I do believe that it would be quite messy."

"How long would it last?" Max asked matter-of-factly. "Something like this isn't going to just last forever. It's going to run out of power eventually."

"Ah, well, that would depend. You see, you have to take in to consideration the amount of resistance the Borg present it with, the number of times it changes frequency, the possibility of recharging-"

"How long?" Worf demanded.

"Mmmmmmm," the Doctor thought about it for a second or two. "Perhaps an hour or two." He looked up at their surprised looks. "Even I can't hold off the Borg forever." He reached into one of his deep pockets and pulled up a rumpled sack. "Jellybaby anyone?"

Max pulled Leela close and she reciprocated. Worf chose to ignore the so-called time-lord and tapped his comm.-badge. "Deanna Troi." But no response came. He glanced over at the detonation switch the Doctor had put together for the nuclear warheads in the submarine. "Today is a good day to die," he commented quietly to himself. "But, I will miss the relationship we could have had." He left then to check the perimeter, regret building in his heart. The Borg would pay for that.

2222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222

The recordings made by Edison Carter took in the running figures of the people of New Eden. A couple of hundred yards off, Junior could be seen bobbing up and down as he dangled from the rope which rang an old church bell that had been placed at the top of old barn that was now skeletal due to the lack of siding. The very weathered bell was evidently a warning system for the whole community as it became very apparent that the whole community had responded to its clanging.

Edison was used to covering scenes of crowds in disarray but this one was oddly organized. An elderly Aboriginal woman helped to carry one of the babies of a young Chimpanzee couple who were carrying the toddlers. Behind them came a group of youngsters pulling a small wagon loaded with jars of food and a few prized possessions. An old, blind Orangutan was being led to the bell by an old, lame Chimpanzee who he was aiding to walk. All congregated at the town square, and all were being directed by Savannah, Dundee and some others to enter the TARDIS which had appeared there just a few minutes prior.

The main problem had nothing to do with the response of the townspeople to act under orders. Instead, it was the rubbernecking of everybody as they watched people entering the TARDIS and it never reaching its capacity. Another stopping point was when people actually stepped inside and saw the interior for themselves and tried to make sense of it all.

"This valley is practically closed off to the outside world I am told," Edison said to the tricorder he was using. "The test colony of New Eden has been virtually undisturbed while still in close proximity to the fallen city of Sydney."

"The cohabitating of Humans with Apes would have been considered abominable to those in leadership of the nearby Ape Nation. Thus, this society has had to live in fear of discovery since its conception. I am told that the bell currently being rung by that young man known as Junior has never been rung since it was placed here due to fear of discovery. He actually had to remove stuffing placed inside the bell that kept it from accidentally ringing due to wind. All the warning drills that have been practiced in silence seem to have paid off as most everyone is acting calm and in an orderly fashion."

"Amazing," Edison said, as he turned off the tricorder. "They are all actually helping each other."

"Why is that so amazing?" asked a deep voice a few feet behind him.

Edison jerked slightly. The newshound was a little intimidated by the large lavender Gargoyle, and he had to remind himself that Goliath didn't have any malice in his tone. "They are all different. Human. Chimpanzee. Orangutan. Gorilla. I think I even may have seen a Baboon toodler with a deformed leg being carried into the TARDIS by an elderly Orangutan couple." He shook his head in disbelief.

"You think because they look differently that they should live separately?" inquired Goliath.

"No! No! No! I am not a racist or even a separatist! It's just everybody's instincts not to trust or feel comfortable around things that are different or alien."

A little Chimpanzee girl, who was being tugged along by her parents, dropped her fuzzy doll as they passed the newsman and the winged, nocturnal sentinel. She squirmed her hand free from that of her mother and rush back for her dolly.

Goliath bent down on his haunches, picked up the fuzzy doll that was evidently supposed to represent either a skinny Gorilla or a hairy Chimpanzee. He dusted it off carefully with one of his massive paws, then looked up to regard the little Chimpanzee child that had stopped a few feet away from him. With a smile, he held out the doll, and the little girl leapt for it and held it close to her chest. Before anything else could happen her parents were there picking her up. They were about to admonish her when Goliath stood up. They gaped at his considerable size and unusual appearance. Realizing that they would rather just be rid of this startling situation they turned and were soon mixing among those who were being instructed by Savannah to enter the TARDIS.

"Yes, it is hard to accept what you are unfamiliar with," Goliath said quietly, but Edison was just able to hear it.

The little Chimpanzee girl looked over her father's shoulder at the Gargoyle. She smiled shyly at first, then burst out in a big grin and waved a exuberant thanks. She even hoisted her doll overhead with the innocent jubilation only a young child could express.

"But," continued Goliath, "with a little kindness, the unusual can be overlooked and perhaps even appreciated later. The young are always more willing to accept new and unusual things and are often times the way to paving the way to better tolerance."

"For someone wearing such primitive clothing you sure have your share of wisdom."

Behind them stood Spur, the Chimpanzee from the Ape Nation that they had rescued. He didn't say anything, but he did take in his surroundings and grimaced.

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The sun beat down on the hilly landscape. The terra firma was just beginning to turn yellowish due to the lack of rain that was the start of a long hot summer. The unkempt road had been paved over some of the smaller hills; sometimes some of the slightly larger hills had been shaved down before the road had been installed or sections of the hill had been cut out so that those that used the road could progress without having to worry about the steep climb. On the few occasions when the hills too tall to adjust, a tunnel was inserted instead. In one section of the road a tunnel had not been maintained for so long that a small landside had blocked one of its entrances turning it into more of a long straight cave. Because of the remaining entrance, various creatures had come to occupy the long tunnel from time to time as it was a large shelter from sun and rain.

Sometimes battles would be waged among those who would not cohabitate with others. Wild hogs vs. dingoes. Snakes vs. rats. Bats vs. birds. Spiders vs. geckos. Fighting for dominance and survival were normal and natural occurrences. On this day, however, the combatants at the entrance of the tunnel were not normal or natural by any means.

Off to the side of the entrance, a large crevice in the rocky hill had a large boulder in front of it. From here one of today's fighters used the boulder as a place of attack while another chose it as a means of protection and concealment.

Jedediah kicked Reginald Barclay aside as he tried to inch further into the crevice.

Reg, fed up with the constant kicking, finally grabbed the offending foot and twisted.

"Awwwwwk!" Jedediah managed to protest.

"Stop kicking so I can get a decent shot," instructed Reg.

Jedediah rubbed his sore leg. "You shoot at them and they'll come after us for sure."

"I'll shoot you if you keep kicking me," retorted Reg.

Jedediah, a dirty, pathetic figure resigned himself and tried to crawl into the crevice that was still too tight for him.

Reg returned to his aiming and found a target in a drone that was about to shoot the man-beast Vincent who was charging upon it. Reg's shot was not exactly precise as he hit the ground in front of the drone, but it seemed to cause the drone to become unsteady and fire inaccurately just over Vincent's head. Vincent had become all beast and pounced savagely on the drone, a thin male Baboon, and slashed at its face and chest with his claws.

Reg grimaced at the sight and quickly turned away to find another target. He found one in a drone approaching the reclining figure of Robocop from behind. Robocop had had one of his legs blown out from underneath him. Everyone had thought the cyborg policeman was dead until he had sat up and shot two drones that were about to inoculate an unconscious Jake Sisko with nano-probes. Now, however the cybernetic man, a much more primitive cyborg than the ones that he fought against, had his back propped up against an old stump while he shot any drones that came into range.

Reg's shot hit the drone but it's force field negated the desired effect. "They're adapting too fast!" Reg muttered.

Meanwhile, Robocop raised his arm with his handgun. His wrist swiveled in a manner no Human's ever could, and fired. A series of projectile and energy shots struck the unprepared drone and its chest exploded in a white mess, thus killing it.

Jedediah was no longer in the crevice. He was staring over at some of the carnage in slack-jaw wonder. Reg ignored him and prepared to take another shot. The 900 year old Immortal boy, Kenny, could be seen trying to keep two drones away from the unconscious form of the Gargoyle canine, Bronx, who had fallen when trying to protect the stunned female Gargoyle, Angela. Reg's shot missed but did draw the attention of one of the drones who turned and aimed its weapon appendage toward Reg and Jedediah.

Before the drone fired or Reg could tell Jedediah to run for it, a strange rasping sound filled the air. The Borg became still, and then as one began scanning around them. Kenny, seizing the opportunity, used his machete to dispatch the two drones he had been holding off while receiving minor burns on his left arm for his trouble.

Slowly, as if a mist was clearing, the TARDIS came into existence in front of the entrance to the tunnel.

"I think reinforcements just arrived!" Reg said, with such exuberance that Jedediah snapped out of his stupor.

"Where-where did that come from?"

Before Reg could think of a suitable reply, the doors to the TARDIS banged open and out charged the massive Gargoyle known as Goliath. He stopped over the prone figures of Bronx and Angela to see if they were all right.

"I'll watch them," Kenny said, wiping his machete off with some long grass. "Go and find her."

Goliath leapt up, grabbing a teetering, old metal light pole, climbing to the top, leaping a second time and spread his leathery wings to catch the hot wind as he soared off in search of Elisa Maza.

Exiting the TARDIS, Mikey 'Crocodile' Dundee led a string of armed Humans and Apes out to establish a parameter. "Okay, this is a 'push back and extract' operation. If we can get some quick kills, do so. I know most of you don't like killing, but trust me that it is better than what they have planned for us."

As Barclay and Jedediah watched, the group of Humans and Apes spread out to try hold off the Borg while rescuing as many people as possible. A group approached Kenny almost immediately, as he was closest to the TARDIS's position. The ever-young Immortal directed two Gorillas and a young Orangutan to carry Bronx while he and two Human men well into their sixties attempted to convey Angela whose wings they were finding could be an awkward hindrance.

Reg jumped up and pulled at Jedediah's shoulders. "We've got to go over there and lend a hand."

Jed pulled away. "Are you crazy? I don't know where that box of people came from but they should be able to wipe out them Borg thingies or at least reduce them in numbers just fine without us. Besides, I don't help monkeys!"

Reg was about to retort when he noticed Jed's draw drop while staring out at the group congregating around the fallen figure of Robocop. "It couldn't be…"

"What?" asked Barclay.

Instead of answering, the tall, grungy man rushed down past the TARDIS and leaving Reg with only the option of following after him. Reg hurried past a few stragglers leaving the TARDIS and caught up with him at almost the same time Jed seemed to reach his destination. A tall, skinny teenage boy.

"Junior! It is you! I've found you!" He held his son out at arms length to look at the skinny lad who had grown to a skinny teen.

"Dad? What're you doin' here?"

"What am I doin' here? What are you doin' here?" His tone had took on a bewildered yet demanding tone, that made Reg wonder if the man was going loose control of himself again.

Junior glanced over at Robocop, saw three female Gorillas had managed to get him upright and had given him part of a broken sign post to use as a temporary crutch. Off to the side, Barclay could be seen trying to pick up the skinny form of Jake Sisko by his armpits. "I'm helpin', dad." Rushing over, he helped to carry Jake by picking up his knees.

"Helpin'? Since when do you go off helpin' strangers? I've told you ever since you were knee high that the only two people we have to worry for is me and you!"

Junior grimaced. "Well, I've had a few more role models since bein' carried off. And right now I'm tryin' to help this lot out before a bomb goes off and kills off all your mates here!" snapped Junior.

"They aren't my mates. And since when do you pal around with monkeys? They're the ones that captured-" He paused, realizing he had skipped over something. "Bomb? What bomb?"

"A nuke. It's suppose to do away with your tin men army."

Jed swallowed but to his credit he did not drop Jake. "Hey, this blue box you all came out of, is that gonna get us clear of the blast?"

Junior looked grim. "If we hurry."

"Right then." Jed focused on the task at hand. If everyone hurried, he'd have a chance to talk about everything with Junior later.

---

Goliath landed on all four, his talons digging reflexively into the baked earth to keep him from losing his balance. And then he was moving again. Without explanation, he pushed the balding man in spandex aside to clear his way to her. As suddenly as he had come, he froze, then reeled back in horror. "Elisa, what have they done to you?"

The holographic medical officer righted himself. Then he checked to make sure that the hypospray in his hand was still functional and sterile. "They are trying to turn her into a Borg drone," snapped the doctor. "Now if you were wondering what I was attempting to do, I was about to inject Miss Maza with some nano-probes designed to counter the nanites of the Borg."

Goliath turned and glared at the Starfleet medical officer, his eyes glowing white. The glow slowly faded and the stern face of the Gargoyle looked crestfallen. "Please, if you can, save her."

The doctor didn't hesitate. He reached over and applied the hypospray to her neck.

"That will save her?"

"It may. It would help if we could get her into the TARDIS. I understand that its features blocks most unwanted signals. And the Borg may send new instructions to their nanites which would render the ones I injected her with useless, but-"

"She should be taken immediately into the TARDIS?" demanded the massive Gargoyle.

"Well, yes."

Without another word, Goliath scooped up Elisa Maza's trembling form. Before the holo-doctor could protest, Goliath had covered almost half the distance to the time-lord's machine.

"You're welcome," said the Doctor. A soft growl to his left caught his attention. "Vincent, are you all right?"

The beast-like man picked himself off the ground. A drone of unidentifiable species lay mangled nearby. "Elisa is the first biological family that I have ever found. But I could not protect her any more than I could protect my Catherine."

The medical program, unsure as to what to say, brought out his medical tricorder and began scanning the large man with the lion visage. "You were fighting against the Borg. You are lucky to be alive." He paused, staring at the readings. "You've torn out some claws and pulled a number of tendons. I'll have to treat you. Go to the TARDIS and I'll meet up with you there."

"Hey, doc," came a voice.

The medical program turned to the intruder ready to snap. "That is not my na-" He stopped when he saw who it was.

"Have you seen Max around? I can't get a reading for him with this thing." Edison Carter indicated the tricorder in his hand.

"I-I'm sorry, Mr. Carter." He hadn't been programmed for this. People were so unpredictable in how they took such news. He paused to look over at a large pile of smoldering ash that took up a 5' by 6 foot area that had three large lumps that resembled people locked in battle stretched out on the ground.

"Max?"

"He saved my life," added the holographic physician. "He took out three of them before…"

"Max?"

Edison took three steps toward the ashy pyre remains before falling to his knees. "Oh, Max, I shouldn't have left you."

The Starfleet medical program considered what to do. In the present circumstances, many people needed his medical attention. He needed to check on Elisa as soon as possible, too. Vincent nudged the doctor toward the weeping newsman. "Go to him. You were close to his…electronic brother."

With great reluctance, the doctor went forward. Unable to find words, he apprehensively put his hand on Edison's shoulder.

Edison, with tears running down his check, turned to look up at the holo-doc. "He was quite a character."

"Yes, he was," admitted the doctor.

"I'm going to miss him.

"I will, too." And he meant it.

----

00000000000000000000000

Hey there, everybody

Sorry for the delay

Working a lot of overtime and then had a 2 week trip – I was suppose to go to Florida and the Bahamas but my sister had her large intestines removed so we went to Minnesota to visit family instead. It was exhausting.

Now my internet at home is down so I though I'd just take the opportunity to send everybody what I do have for now and tell you I'll try hurry with the rest.

I do have most of it already written down on napkins from work. It's just finding the time to transcribe them into the computer.

Best wishes

Charlie Nelson


	10. Chapter 10

"Get away from her!" Vic Fontaine tackled the drone from behind, knocking it from where it was hovering over the Starfleet counselor Deanna Troi. "I prefer her complexion and personality just the way they are." He pulled his arms tight around the drone, trapping it's arm to it's chest.

Since he usually had bouncers take care of manhandling people back in his nightclub hologram that he called home, Vic was trying to figure out how to get out of this awkward position when a hand clamped onto his shoulder. It was a large hand, which limited the number of possibilities as to who it could belong.

"Hawk?"

Vic glanced back to confirm that it was the young hybrid Gorilla, but Hawk wasn't like he had last seen him. Gray veins of Borg infesting nanites showed on the face and arm of former ally.

Vic froze only for a moment until he saw that Borg- controlled Hawk was reaching for the holo-emitter on his arm that allowed the sentient singing hologram to function outside a holo-deck.

Vic dodged to the right, pushing the drone he held, a short Human female, away as he did so. Both the drone and Hawk, now a pre-drone that had not yet gone through the manufacturing process, were able to focus on him.

Immediately, Vic realized why they wanted the holo-emitter. The medical program had told him that it was a one of a kind technology from a couple hundred years in the future of their timeline. It was like waving a steak in front of a ravenous dog. He wasn't sure if they were interested in adding a sentient hologram's data matrix to their collective but he knew for sure that he didn't feel like joining.

"I'm not one for your choir," he said, hoping they would take the hint but knowing they wouldn't care.

The female drone waved her prosthetic limb in his direction causing Vic's image to become burry momentarily before the emitter corrected itself.

"Now you've done it!" Vic used his connection to the emitter to change density and speed, and then rushed over and tore off the offending appendage from the drone's body. He then threw the perplexed drone away, sending her flying twelve feet before she made a sickening crunching sound when she encountered a large tree.

Looking down at the sparking Borg prosthetic that oozed grayish fluids, Vic shook his head. "If this is the real world, I think I'll stick with mine on the holodecks."

The forgotten Hawk grabbed Vic from behind again. This time the quasi-Gorilla/Borg drone had grabbed onto the emitter itself and was pulling.

Vic fluttered in and out of view until he was suddenly released.

"What-what happened?" Vic asked. He was on his knees, disoriented. When no answer came he managed to glance around. Spur, the sullen, hard-faced Chimpanzee, stood over the Body of Hawk, whose head had been caved in by the Borg prosthetic that lay next to him.

"Thank you."

"Don't," Spur said. "He feared becoming one of those Borg slaves more than dying. Turning, the Chimpanzee walked back to the TARDIS. Vic stared after him for a while, noting that Spur hadn't offered to help anyone else on his way. Shaking his head, Vic managed to find his balance. He picked up Deanna in his arms and was soon following after the Chimpanzee to safety.

While hurrying to the TARDIS, he noted that there had been other casualties. Two orangutans, four of Aunty Entity's men, three men and a women that Vic didn't recognize, all being filmed by Edison Carter.

The few remaining drones were unable to stop the departure in the TARDIS though they did try. Those inside hurried away, unwilling to give the creative drones a chance to do anything to the TARDIS, and not knowing that they had left one of their own number behind.

44444444444444444444444444444444444444

Leela swung the large pipe wrench at the closest drone but it blocked the blow. She switched tactics and slashed the large cybernetic zombie with her Janis thorn, which she held in her other hand. The fast acting poison took the Borg drone by surprise as the paralyzing agent began taking affect, temporarily blocking the rest of the oncoming drones.

She dived back behind the readymade barricade made from miscellaneous items found on the abandoned Russian submarine, before and shots could be fired at her.

Max, who some called the Road Warrior, was bent low pulling the stunned form of their Klingon ally, Worf, further down the corridor and away from the Borg. Leela went to help.

She took a limb and they increased their pace. "I've slowed them for the moment. Where's the Doctor?"

Max nodded to the end doorway. "With the detonator. I think he's trying to make another force field or something."

"The shield did work for fifteen minutes," defended Leela.

"But now we need something else," Max stated.

"And I think I've got just the thing!" answered the Doctor, stepping out into the corridor, not bothering to stay low. A shot barely missed his fedora causing him to reconsider his stance.

"What is it?" Leela asked while continuing to pull on Worf's arm.

He held up a hodge-podge rod of metal. "It's a sonic gun. I made it from my sonic screwdriver. Wasn't easy, I must say."

"Will it work," asked an exasperate Max.

"It should be enough to clear the hall and maybe a little more."

"They'll adapt," spate Max.

"It's what they do," agreed the time-lord.

Leela glanced over. The paralyzed drone had been pushed aside so that the rest of the drones could progress toward them. They were already removing the barricade that barely hindered them. "Doctor!"

The Doctor, noting their progress, aimed his new sonic weapon and fired. A shrilling sound seemed to ripple down the passageway, causing the drones to vibrate uncontrollably for a few seconds, and then implode into a whitish-gray organic goo with metal, plastic, wires and tubes all making a soupy mess on the metal floor.

"That was worse than I thought," grimaced the Doctor.

"I don't know. I rather liked it," said Max, rubbing his ears. "I don't suppose you could make one of those for me after this is all over?"

Before the Doctor could retort, he was struck by a beam of light from the other end of the corridor.

"Doctor!" Leela managed to catch the stunned time-lord before he could hit the hard metal floor of the submarine.

Max grabbed for the makeshift sonic weapon. "Is he dead?"

"No," she answered. "They want to assimilate him. He's a time-lord and his knowledge would be invaluable to them."

"Did you see how he used this?" He held up the sonic weapon.

"No."

"Where's Worf's gun?"

"His plasma rifle? I think… back there." She pointed in the direction of the Borg.

"Come on." He pulled Worf's prone body into the room where the Doctor had set up the detonator to the nuclear reactor and the warheads he had worked on. Leela followed, dragging in the Doctor.

"We can't stop them," Max said, fidgeting with the sonic weapon.

"Yes we can."

Max looked at her, and saw that her eyes were staring at the detonator switch. "Leela?"

"We have to. I've seen what they have planned for us. I've been on one of their ships. We can't allow that to happen to us or anyone else." She shivered, and Max, having never seen her afraid before, drew her close and became resolved. He placed his hand over the switch, and said a quick prayer hoping someone would be there to explain all this to him in the afterlife, whether he wound up in heaven or hell.

A metal grinding noise filled the room. "This must be their turn to attack," he said. "Well, it's now or-"

"No!" Leela pulled his hand from the detonator with reflexes Max was surprised she had. "That is the TARDIS! We are saved!"

"The TARDIS? The Doctor's ship that you travel together in. The ship that can go to other planets?"

"Yes!" The glee in her voice startled him. She had told him a little about this ship that could transverse space and time and he hadn't known what to think about it. Back before the e-m bombs had dropped and made everything go kapooey, he had been a big fan of the SciFi channel. He had been a big follower of shows like Andromeda and Farscape. He had also become addicted to a lot of the low-grade science fiction films that had come out on the SciFi channel each year. But this story of hers seemed to push the fabric of reality that he was willing to accept. Then again, he had been living in an apocalyptic wasteland where intelligent hybrid Apes hunting Humans for the last twenty years. He was also fighting against some type of cyborg zombie cult that impressed people into membership whether they wanted to join or not. Taking this into consideration, he didn't so much as blink as a large blue telephone box came into existence a few feet away.

"This is it?" he asked in a hushed tone.

"Yes! K-9 must have brought it!"

"K-9?"

"He's a little metal dog. You'll like him."

"Uh, sure."

The doors to the TARDIS banged open as Vincent came out followed closely by the holographic medical program of Deep Space Nine, Edison Carter, Spur, and Reginald Barclay.

Reg, realizing that he was the only one in a uniform of any kind, took charge even though everyone was already in action. "Get Worf and the Doctor into the TARDIS immediately." Vincent had already picked up Worf and hoisted his massive form over onto one of his shoulders. He headed back into the TARDIS before anyone else could say anything.

The holo-doctor briefly scanned the Doctor's prone body, stopping slightly to adjust his medical tricorder. "Fascinating! I'll have to see if he'll allow me to do a deep scan of him later. These organs are…" He paused and adjusted the medical tricorder again. "I think his body is resonating a type of temporal flux about him. I can just barely register it. He may even be sensitive to temporal changes!"

"He IS a time lord," Leela said.

"Yes, well, so he has told us repeatedly, but it is still fascinating," insisted the holographic bald Human.

"Borg!" Barclay shouted, taking aim with his phaser rifle. But he did not fire. Neither did anyone else.

Stepping into the doorway from the corridor was a tall, thin Borg drone, but it's face had been covered by a hologram which was familiar to all of them.

"Friends, neighbors, countrymen. Lend me your ears. And try not to shoot."

"Max?" Edison managed to say.

"That's me, Edison. Like the new duds." He waved down at the body he had which exhibited only a slight tremor of resistance. "Notice that I've lost the stutter?"

The Starfleet doctor stepped forward and scanned the drone in the doorway.

"Uh," Barclay thought hard to ask something important. He considered himself in charge of this situation since he was the only Starfleet officer present. "So you've taken over the drones?"

"Only temporarily," Max Headroom said. "I was able to sneak into their Collective while they were busy with all of you. I wasn't considered a threat to them at the time."

Reg nodded. "And now you are. Can you tell us any pertinent information about the Borg."

"Not really. But I've taken control of all the remaining drones in this parallel universe for now."

The doctor looked past Max Headroom drone and down into the corridor where he could see all the drones there sporting similar faces of Max Headroom while attempting to dance to the music of Mr. Roboto. "Disturbing, but better than the alternative I suppose," mumbled the doctor.

"The Borg are going to kick you out?" asked Edison.

"Nope. They'll either erase me or find a way to assimilate me."

"How long can you hold them," asked Leela.

"A few more minutes, I think."

"Then this bomb can destroy them."

"You're not blowing up Max!" Edison shouted.

"It's the only way!" she shouted back.

"Not necessarily," Max Headroom said. "I know of a way to do it without using a bomb."

"Max, there's something wrong here." The Starfleet medical was scanning the body of the drone Max inhabited.

"No there's not." He looked Edison in the eyes. "I knew that the Borg was going to destroy me once I proved a threat to it so I made sure that I would take them out as well."

"Max, you didn't." The doctor now understood even if no one else did.

"I had a talk with the nanites that inhabit each drone."

"What?" Edison was confused. "What does that mean?"

When the computer entity inhabiting the drone didn't say anything, the doctor gently cleared his throat. "Max and I were attempting to get him more familiar with the previous drone body that he had become stuck inside. When I tried to get him to use the Borg nanites, uh, things did not turn out so well."

"What do you mean?" asked Barclay.

"The nanites would…become confused by Max's instructions and end up behaving erratically up to the point that whatever object that Max placed the nanites in would spontaneous combust."

Edison's face twisted in horror. "Max! How could you?"

"It's better than blowing the remnants of Sydney off whatever maps that remain on this world. Besides, this way I could ensure that they couldn't harm you. I know you never asked for me in your life, and we had our share of frustrations and misunderstandings in the beginning, but you always treated me fair. Thank you."

"Max, I thought you knew. I think of you as family. Sometimes annoying family, but always as family."

Max laughed. "Annoying like Aunt Rachel or annoying like cousin Josh?" Sparks jumped from his prosthetic limb while a smoldering spot appeared on his knee. Max's face twisted in pain as he fell against on of the walls and slid down to the floor.

Edison looked to the doctor, but the doctor shook his head. The reporter turned back to his electronic clone. "Max, isn't there any way to save you."

"Sorry. Too changed…by the…Borg. Even if I could…it wouldn't be…safe." A whiff of smoke trailed out of his mouth just before his good hand erupted in flames. Max Headroom didn't even bother to try putting it out.

"The rest of them are of fire, too!" Barclay said, as he looked down the corridor.

Max Headroom looked up at Edison. "Remember…me." Then the flames seemed to leap up and engulf the body of the drone. The holographic face of Max Headroom lingered there for only a few seconds before it too was seemingly destroyed by the flames.

Leela reached over and turned the timer to the modified bomb off. "I guess we didn't need this after all."

In five minutes all of the drones were reduced to ash due to the radical behavior of the drones. A revived Doctor quickly dismantled the bomb though he was still dismayed with all the people currently on his TARDIS. It was a situation he planned to rectify quickly.

EPILOGUE EPILOGUE EPILOGUE EPILOGUE EPILOGUE EPILOGUE

"Can't you at least let him choose for himself?" Kenny pleaded.

"He is part of our clan. That is where he belongs." Goliath's tone was insistent, but touched with just a hint of compassion for the Immortal who looked so much like a youth.

Angela shifted from foot to foot, her tail stirring up some of the dust of the dry ground before willing herself to propose something. "Can not Kenny come to our world and be attached to our clan like Elisa has?"

Goliath shook his maned head. "No. You have never met Xanatos. He is obsessed with immortality. Once he learned of Kenny's existence and abilities – and he would learn of it – he would capture and subject Kenny to numerous tests which would most likely be preformed by Dr. Anton Sevarius, a very unscrupulous scientist who would incorporate numerous vivisections in his research."

Kenny paled. "You're kidding, right? This Sevarius is really just a scare tactic, right?"

Elisa, who reclining into Goliath's chest where they sat on a sturdy concrete bench, took the blade of grass she had been chewing on out of her mouth and shook her head. "No, he's a very real threat. Xanatos is a very obsessive, very rich man and he has funded Dr. Sevarius on a number of immoral projects. According to that Q fellow, while Goliath, Bronx, and I have been finding Angela and touring the world, Sevarius has been working on turning Humans into Gargoyle-like creatures that he can control, including my brother, Darek."

"And Darek and a Human/Gargoyle hybrid girl will have a baby boy," added Angela.

"A baby that will be taken by one of your many enemies and misplaced in your past to become me," concluded Vincent, who had been sitting in a more shaded area since he was not use to the large amount of sunlight.

Elisa, leaned over and patted her new-found nephew on the hand.

Kenny shivered. "Maybe your universe is more complicated than I'm looking for."

Jake Sisko, who had been sitting carefully on a large rock that had been left there, laughed. "This coming from a guy who is part of a secret group of Immortals that compulsively feel the need to hunt each other in order to behead them and absorb their energies until there is only one left."

Kenny looked around at the group defiantly now. "I still think that you should let Bronx choose for himself if he wants to stay with me or not."

The object of their discussion lay a few yards away snoring peacefully in the hot sun even though he did have to twitch his ears to disturb some of the more stubborn flies that had Gargoyle ears on their menu.

Jake stood up and pulled gently on her hand. They weren't needed for this discussion and their time together was short. They left quietly though Jake was sure that he could feel Goliath's white eyes burning into his back.

"You're tense," she said.

"Uh, a little." He leaned over and picked a flower, though the stem proved to be wirier than he had anticipated causing the flower to be just a little crushed. She took it happily.

They strolled down an overgrown path that led down to the center of town. It was overgrown and worn down by the weather but some of clutter and more in the way vegetation had already been placed in temporary rubbish heaps.

"It shouldn't take too long for the New Eden people to revive this old town," commented Jake.

"It was nice of the Doctor to find this place for them to relocate to."

Jake shrugged. "Everybody from New Eden was already in the TARDIS trying to escape the bomb blast that never happened," he pointed out. "And they couldn't go back to New Eden because once they rang that warning bell they couldn't be sure if somebody from the Ape military didn't hear it return later to investigate it."

"At least it's further away from the place the Apes live at."

"Spur's not happy about it. He can't go back because he can't account for everything that has happened. And if he did try to return and explain the secret of New Eden – Apes and Human living peacefully and equally side by side – these peace loving people would be purposefully hunted and their project would be destroyed. And I think that as much as Spur hates Humans, he doesn't want to see his own people killing each other."

Angela nodded. "Hopefully the people of this 'New' New Eden will be able to win him over to their view."

"I don't know."

Angela smiled. "You didn't see his grin when that ugly Gorilla Ogre was kicked off the TARDIS onto that uninhabited island a couple of hundred miles from Australia."

"It should happen to more guys like Ogre."

They laughed at the idea, each thinking of different prospects for island seclusion, and then quieted down as they came across Edison Carter.

"Hey, Edison," Jake said, greeting the dimensionally displaced news reporter. "Everything all right?"

It was a stupid question. Jake knew it even before he said it, but it was one of those forced questioned that just came out when you knew the other person was hurting bad.

Edison ignored the question, which only confirmed Jake's guilt that the newsman had already been asked the intrusive question a number of times already. "I developed the pictures I took." Edison held out the photos in a bundle form wrapped in an old newspaper. "Thought I had forgotten how to develop those old films. Luckily one of my old teachers had taught me how on an old Kodak camera similar to the one the Doctor had."

"Uh, that's good," Jake said. "What are you going to do with them?"

"I made a copy for the happy couple and one for the people of New Eden so they can start building a visual record of their history."

"That's very thoughtful," Angela said. "It was a nice wedding. It should be remembered by everybody."

"I was wondering if you could put them up on display for everybody to see."

"Put them up where?" Jake asked, puzzled at the request.

"There's an old town hall near the end of Main Street. In the main hall everybody is suppose find out who gets which house. There is also some old bulletin boards in the hallway. That's where I agreed to put them."

"But you don't want to put them up?" Angela asked.

If it was possible Edison appeared even more glum. "I've seen them already. Everybody is happy and having a good time. And I, well, I'm still thinking about Max." He hesitated before finding something to add. "It was all I could do just to take the pictures. Please, just put these up for me and give the copies to the happy couple."

Jake found himself watching Edison's back walking away before he could actually agree to anything. "Remember that the Doctor is leaving at sunset," he managed to call out.

"He'll be all right," Jake said, trying to sound reassuring the female Gargoyle.

She nodded. "But it will still be hard on him. He once explained that Max Headroom was an electronic copy made from his brainwaves after he had suffered a severe head injury. Max was closer than a brother to Edison, closer than even a twin; they've shared life experiences."

Jake nodded. "The head injury explains a lot of Max's behavior."

They were quite in retrospect as they entered the building. Jake broke the awkward silence by opening the packet of pictures. "Let's see what we've got."

"Here's one of the bride being led down the aisle." They both took a moment to examine the picture. The Doctor could be seen grinning wildly as he walked with Leela. The next photo was of the time-lord receiving a kiss on the cheek from Leela as he was about to hand her off to her groom, Max, the one-time road warrior.

Angela took down some old newsletters off the bulletin board that were decades out of date and used the tacks to start pinning up some of the photos.

"This one's interesting." Jake held up a picture of a grinning little Orangutan girl that was wearing a pink and white dress and had most of the hair on her head in various braids and bows.

"I think this tops it." Angela handed over a photo of the ushers who all wore bowties that someone had found: Robocop, Vincent, and Goliath. "Hey did you notice the name tags they wore? The one on Robocop says Alex Murphy. You think that was his original name?"

"No idea, but you noticed that no one complained about where they were seated," Jake said laughing. "These photos are pretty good."

"Maybe too good," Angela said.

"What?" Jake looked at the picture that she was staring at. It showed the still image of Jake and Angela kissing behind one of the buildings after the wedding services. Jake gulped. "I didn't think anybody had seen us."

"I guess he did at least."

"Uh, if it's all right with you I think I'll keep this picture." She nodded and he put it carefully in a pocket. He was glad that Goliath wasn't around. "Some memories should stay private."

"Well, let's put the rest of these up," she said, while tacking up a photo of the Voyager's holo-doctor singing with Deep Space Nine's holographic singer, Vic Fontaine, "then maybe we can make a few of our own before we all leave."

He grinned. He knew it was an innocent statement, but it was one that could take on other meanings. He was starting to feel more like Commander Riker after all. "I'd like that. Say with you returning to your version of Earth how is that going to work with Vincent also going back?"

Angela grimaced. "Q said he could take Vincent, his girlfriend Catherine and the baby and project them into the future to when we return there, but that might mess up the whole Darek getting together with Vincent's mom. So evidently, my father suggested that we have our memories suppressed until a few years later and then have Vincent and his family projected in time to that point."

"My dad always says that temporal anomalies give him a headache. I think I can see why."

"Oh, but then Vincent said he wants his entire family – the people he lives with under the street – to come forward in time with him."

"Oh boy, bet that was a deal breaker."

"Not really, because my father pointed out the pipes under the city had appeared to be lived in but were not any longer when he was there. They people Vincent describes had to have gone somewhere – why not move them over a decade in the future?"

"Hey, I don't know. I'm not with the Temporal Police."

She looked at his quizzically. "Is there really such a thing?" She hung another picture, this one showing a sulking Jedediah alongside his recently found son Jedediah, Jr. and the Orangutan family that had adopted him.

Jake placed a picture of Worf and Deanna slow dancing next to a picture of Mikey 'Crocodile' Dundee dancing with a young Gorilla maiden. "I think there are some type of agency, but I seriously doubt that they would want to confront Q about any minor changes he does."

"Yes, he does seem-" She frowned at the still scene on the Kodak paper in her hand.

"What?" Jake leaned over and looked.

It was the bouquet toss. Angela, Elisa, Deanna, and a number of young ladies of New Eden who were Human, Gorilla, Chimpanzee and Orangutan, had gathered together after having the tradition explained to them. The bouquet itself was made of various wildflowers in the area and tended to show more white and blue over the other colors. Angela had gone to leap over the others to catch the bunch of flowers but had been startled by Elisa rapidly climbing up her back and leaping off her shoulders to catch it in mid air. Fortunately for Elisa, Goliath had been nearby and had rushed forward to catch her before gravity extracted it's full due.

"Did you see that kiss she gave him? I thought he was going to drop her he was so surprised."

"She climbed over me," Angela said coldly. "I thought we were friends."

Jake choked down his laughter. "But she did know how durable you were and…well…I think you should go home and discuss with some other ladies just what they've done to try it get a bouquet. It can really get dangerous."

"But why?"

"Well, I think it's supposed to suggest that the person who catches it is the next one to get married."

"So?"

"Sooo, the ladies that would try hardest to get the bouquet are usually the ones that want to get married the most."

"So she…and my father…but Gargoyles don't marry."

"I don't know what the Gargoyle customs are but I think she is going to find some common ground." He tacked up another picture, this one showing Spur who had been trying to ignore a young female Chimpanzee offering him some appetizers, but finally conceded and took a small turnip. "There. That does it. How about we go explore some more paths before we have to come back. I think we have about two hours."

"It sounds like a wonderful idea."

They left hand in hand and did not see the flash of light that appeared next to the bulletin board.

"What? No pictures of me. For shame." Q snapped his fingers and an image of him appeared in each photograph, sometimes even replacing one of the people in the picture. "There. That's better. Now if we could just get everybody moving." He tapped the floor with his foot in frustration. He was already planning his next fight against the Borg.

**Author's Notes**

Sappy ending but what do you expect, it was a wedding after all. Yes, Leela has left the Doctor and married Mad Max, the Road Warrior. I didn't plan that originally but it just seemed to work for me.

Kenny is a new Companion of the Doctor's. I don't know if I should keep Bronx with Kenny or not so I left it kind of open there.

Robocop returns home with a willing Pudface and a depressed Edison Carter. For my story I had originally planned to blow up Sydney, Australia with the nuke on the Russian sub (Hey, I used a volcano to take out the Seattle-Tacoma area why not a nuke), but then I tried to come up with a means of doing it in a less destructive manner. Hope it was creative enough for all you readers.

If you have any question just ask.

Next adventure is in the 1880 or 1890's on the western frontier of the United States. And yes that means I'll be pulling a lot of characters from The Wild, Wild West (tv), Kung Fu, Bonanza, Gunsmoke & well you get the idea. See you all later. Nelson


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